Shadows on the Ground
by Becca Stareyes
Summary: Sequel to "The Sun, Half Covered". Amelia and Zel visit a foreign country to seek out a conspiracy against Saillune. Meanwhile, Lina and Gourry are hired to track down a stolen manuscript, one that may be one of Rezo the Red Priest's. These two plots cross unexpectedly, causing trouble that could lead to war.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**

This story is a sequel to "The Sun, Half Covered".

* * *

"Thank God it's finally over," Zelgadis said. Mayor Bartalan and Astin had brought Claire Sholei - or, perhaps he should be calling her Kilarei sim Sholeiba - out, and the contingent of guards from the nearest large town were helping her into the mail coach. It had a bit more of a look of two gentlemen helping a woman with her hands full than two guards making sure a semi-bound prisoner didn't make a break for freedom, but this was Saillune. "Are we done here?" Zelgadis said. He'd sent his letter to Prince Phil ahead, with the message to send the guards down to escort a prisoner. But he'd had a longer report waiting for the mail coach as well.

"Disappointed?" Amelia replied, watching the prisoner with an expression that Zelgadis couldn't quite describe.

"The place wasn't so bad, but I'm no investigator."

"What makes you say that? I thought you and I did quite well for ourselves. We caught the saboteur, and saved the town. Not to mention helped to heal some of the animosity between humans, beastmen and chimera."

Her heart wasn't in it, Zelgadis could tell that much from the way she said it. When they first met, she would have said that with a fiery conviction that their work was done, and they could ride off into the sunset on white horses, and things would be peaceful in their absence. From what she had said earlier, now she had realized that it was more like trudging off the battlefield, tired and wounded, but having gained ground and still alive to fight another day.

Not to mention a lot of that new town unity overlaid the sudden realization that they had had a spy in their midst, that the enemy might not be the funny-looking neighbors, but the mysterious and enigmatic other, the foreigners over the hills, yet far too close.

Zelgadis just nodded, not bothering to contradict her. _Perhaps I'm developing a soft spot - cynicism would be kicking her when she's down_.

"Excuse me, Mister Graywords?" The coachman had taken the mail sack out and was holding a letter. "This is for you."

"Thanks." Zelgadis took the letter from him, and used his dagger to break the wax seal and slit the envelope open.

"Wow, a letter?" Amelia said, suddenly looking interested. "Who's it from?"

"It's from Lina," Zelgadis said, skimming the letter. "I wonder why she didn't just contact me directly. Oh, wait... she was hoping this would catch up to me in transit." He frowned.

"What is it, Mister Zelgadis?"

"She's up north, near Atlas City," Where he had been himself less than a month ago. "Someone out there is auctioning off some things, and they claim to have some of Rezo's old notes and books."

Zelgadis held the paper in his hand, staring at the words. Ever since Sairaag was destroyed - the first time, by Copy Rezo, not the second time by Hellmaster Phibrizzo - Zelgadis had lost all hope of ever finding out the exact procedure for turning a human into a chimera. From what he found out later, there were many variations - a lot of sorcerers had just tried to reinvent the fireball, working from the spells used to make nonhuman chimera. As a result, there was no one spell, but one for each sorcerer amoral, arrogant, or just plain crazy enough to do it. Zelgadis had hoped to reverse-engineer whatever Rezo had did, but studying the magic this past year, he had come to the conclusion that without the original spell, it would be like trying to reconstruct a library from the ashes.

Lina hadn't said what was in the books. In fact, she had said that Rezo had written them in a code and obliquely admitted she couldn't read it. Rezo's shorthand was a nightmare to read, designed for a blind man with a twisted sense of humor. Zelgadis himself could read it, but not well, and not easily, but hopefully enough. Certainly enough to get the gist of the book and figure out if it would be helpful to him.

He'd only wished he'd heard of this before he left. He could have stayed, and waited... or snuck in to check the books out himself. And left Amelia to solve the Redcliffe problem herself, and reinforced that his cure was more important than his friends.

"Really, when?" Amelia stood on her toes and peered over his shoulder.

Zelgadis looked at the letter again, glancing at the date, then swore under his breath. "Two days. There's no way I'll be able to cross the sub-continent in two days." Why couldn't they have done it all those months when he had been in one place, right on top of them? Hell, if he had known they were so close, he would have even offered his assistance for a bargain rate in figuring out what the damn things were.

Amelia frowned. "Well, maybe you can contact Miss Lina out there; she said where she'd be, right? Get her to act as your agent . Bid on the book, and, if it's useless, she can resell it."

"I'd need to use a spell to get a hold of her in time," Zelgadis said.

"Well, that's no problem." Amelia smiled at him, and took his hand. "Miss Leigh knows the vision spell. We'll just send something up to the north and the Sorcerer's Guild can ask Miss Lina to contact us when she can."

Zelgadis let her lead him to Leigh Halimeda's place. "Miss Leigh! Miss Leigh!" Amelia called at the door. "Can you do us a favor?"

"We could knock first, you know," Zelgadis said.

"Oh, right!" Amelia reached to knock at the door when Leigh Halimeda answered.

"No need for that, Your Highness," she said. "What seems to be the problem?"

"I was wondering if you could cast the Vision spell twice," Amelia said. "With my help, if you'd like, of course."

"Twice?" Zelgadis raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I need to check in with home, too," Amelia said. "Especially after this week - Daddy or Uncle Christopher might have heard something about the Jarei situation."

So they were up to a 'situation' now. Still better than what Mister Galatei was calling it. All the more reason to get out of this part of the country before the words started getting more menacing. Zelgadis had spent this long keeping his hide intact by avoiding any trouble he could - it wasn't his fault that trouble followed him around when it wasn't out pestering Lina Inverse. Perhaps Amelia could be talked into returning to the capital, or checking the northern mountains for ruins. Or something safer than dashing into political trouble.

"I sent my report back with the coachman, and the first letter should be working its way to the capital now. Are you that worried that something will happen before it gets there?"

"Well... yes, I am," Amelia replied.

"I think I can manage that," Leigh replied. "What's the other one for?"

"Oh, Mister Zelgadis needs to check with a friend of ours."

The three of them walked inside, and Leigh cleared the dishes off the table. "Donla is running errands for me. Since Claire... well, since things settled, I've been a bit shorthanded, so my apprentice is filling the gaps." Leigh shrugged. "A shame. She really should learn this spell soon. It's damn useful."

All the same, Zelgadis was kind of glad Donla wasn't in the room. Considering the last argument the two had gotten into, he'd rather she not eavesdrop on his and Lina's conversation. "Would you like to go first, Amelia?"

"No, you go ahead, Mister Zelgadis," she said. "Mine might take awhile, and it's almost lunch time."

"Right. Well, I need to get the Atlas City Sorcerers' Guild." He stepped back and, with a nod to Leigh and Amelia, watched the two of them begin the spell. He'd never seen someone cast the spell outside of the Hall of Visions most places that had access to magic used. It was a lot more work, clearly, without the amplifying effect, but the image of a sorceress, young, and in rather plain looking robes, took form. Probably whoever was on duty to take messages, though it looked like she was more interested in reading her comic book than in waiting around for calls. Zelgadis cleared his throat, and she jumped off her stool, double taking at his appearance. "Um... Atlas City Sorcerers' Guild. Who are you looking for?"

"Lina Inverse. Is she in town?" Zelgadis crossed his arms. IAnother useless flunky/i

"I... let me check..." the young sorceress ran out of range of the spell, and Zelgadis had to fight the urge to point out that the spells weren't maintaining themselves. Thankfully, someone left the record book she had gone for near enough to hand that it only took her a moment. "Inverse, Inverse... I thought so. She's in town. She's not staying at the Guild though, thank goodness. People are a little worried, ever since what happened last time, with Masters Damia, Tarim and Halcyform."

"I remember; I was traveling her back then," Zelgadis said. "Look, can you tell her that Zelgadis Graywords wants to talk to her, and that he'll try again tomorrow, at an hour noon." That should be comfortably before Lina ate lunch, but well after breakfast, for a minimum of complaining about interrupting her and Gourry's meal.

"All right, can do, Mister Graywords." The young sorceress bowed to him, almost comically, then ended the spell herself.

Zelgadis sighed. "I'll bet the message doesn't get to Lina."

"Don't be such a pessimist, Mister Zelgadis." Amelia said, dragging a chair over to face him, then sitting down. "I think we better wait until after lunch to do the next one. Maybe until Miss Donla gets back. That's a lot more draining than I thought."

* * *

After lunch, which they had with Miss Leigh and Miss Donla, Amelia was about ready to try again. This time, though, Miss Leigh insisted on doing it in the workroom, and getting out a number of magical amplifiers. "I forgot how strenuous this spell can be," she said.

"You've always done it before, when speaking to the capital," Amelia replied.

"Yes, but then I had Claire helping me. She had a knack for this kind of magic."

They both paused, a bit awkwardly. It was hard to believe that the priestess had been a traitor - had, quite possibly been so since she came south to Redcliffe. It was unsettling. She _hated_ subterfuge. She'd always been a fan of the melodramatic, flamboyant villain, not the sneaky backstabbers. If Jarei was so upset about something, why not just _say_ so? Or be like Xoana (not that she _really_ wanted anyone to be like Xoana) and build up a giant army? Probably because Elemekia would just squish it before it ever got large enough to harass Saillune, but still. It was just so out of the blue. Why, just before she left, the Archmage of Jarei had asked her to come visit.

"All right, we're ready for you, Your Highness." Miss Leigh had shoved - or had Mister Zelgadis and Miss Donla shove - the table aside, and had drawn a chalk circle, maybe a pace across, on the floor. She, Miss Donla and Mister Zelgadis stood in a ring around it.

"Thank you," Amelia stepped forward. "I need to talk to the castle. We've got our own Hall of Visions. They should be expecting to hear from me."

The spell felt much smoother this time, with three people, magical amplifiers, and whatever standing enchantments and residual magic the workroom had absorbed in its lifetime. She saw Miss Donla glancing to either side, to imitate Miss Leigh and Mister Zelgadis. Amelia straightened her tunic, and almost wished she had dressed up today. On the other hand, anyone could look impressive in a beautiful, well-made dress; a real princess could be a princess even in her traveling tunic and pants.

To her surprise, the person who had been waiting for her message was her Uncle Christopher. To others' surprise as well. She saw Miss Leigh's eyes widen, though she kept the spell going. "Hello, Uncle Christopher." This was enough to clue in Miss Donla as to who the man was, and she might have stopped the spell right there if Miss Leigh didn't put her hand on her apprentice's shoulder.

"Hello, Amelia," he said. "I trust you are well."

"As well as can be expected," Amelia said, "given the circumstances. Has the news reached you yet?"

"It has. Someone made sure Mister Graywords's report was sent on a fast horse to the capital. I was expecting you to call, which was why I thought to stay close until you contacted us."

"What's going on out there?" Amelia asked.

"Well, Ambassador Rafael maintains that the priestess was not acting under the King's orders, and the Empire's intelligence service knew of nothing to suggest hostilities between Jarei and Saillune, though I'd imagine that no one wants to assume blame for this."

Amelia nodded. That was how politics was apparently done. If you were caught, it was either someone else's idea or a horrible misunderstanding. Sometimes both - it was why her father had never the patience for diplomacy, and let Uncle Christopher do most of the work, ever since Grandpa got too sick to do much. Daddy was happy to spearhead grand projects of international cooperation, like the expedition to the New World that Miss Filia had accidentally-on-purpose ruined, and send out ultimatums when people were openly hostile, but he didn't deal well with all the shades of grey in between complete cooperation and open hostility.

What would probably happen was that, after a stay in the capital, and defrocking by the Temple, Miss Sholei would be escorted to the border and asked not to come back. And, no one - or at least, no one in Saillune - would know what really happened, whether it was some reactionary faction from Jarei trying to make trouble with their neighbors, someone who had tricked Miss Sholei into _thinking_ they were from Jarei, or the Jarei government itself.

"Do we have an ambassador in Jarei?" she asked her uncle.

"Not since they signed the treaty with Elemekia. We've just relied on our people within Elemekia's capital. They've never been a problem before."

"Well, it certainly is now," Amelia said. "I don't even know what Jarei is like, besides that it's on the edge of the Desert of Destruction, and they have a young king." A young king that occasionally showed up on the lists when some of her father's advisors talked about potential marriages. Mostly advisors that thought Big Sister Gracia would be back any day now from her training expedition, rather than the ones that kept telling her to act like she would be the one inheriting the throne someday, rather than her sister.

"Indeed."

Amelia looked thoughtful. "We ought to send someone to check it out. And do you know, the Archmage invited me to visit there?"

Mister Zelgadis must have caught on to what she was implying, since he was burying his face in his hands. Miss Leigh gave him a sharp glance, and he steadied up. Her uncle caught on as well. "Amelia, are you quite sure that's wise? Given the current climate-"

"-given the current climate, we really need to know what the political situation is in Jarei," she interrupted. "And we don't have anyone qualified as a diplomat within a week's travel, and between Mister Zelgadis and I, we've taken down things more dangerous than small countries, and we were invited. Plus, I think the Temple of Ceipheed will guarantee both of our safety, considering they are still embarrassed by Miss Sholei."

Uncle Christopher held up his hands. "One of these days, I need to teach you the value of delegating your duties. Your father was like that as well."

"So that's a 'yes', then?" Amelia said.

"It seems like I don't have a choice - you can go. I'll start making the arrangements, then contact you."

"Excellent. Bye, Uncle Christopher."

Amelia waved as the image of her uncle winked out. She caught Mister Zelgadis looking dour - or, more so than normal. "You know what I think about this idea," he said.

"I want to bring whoever is really in charge of this to justice."

"You know politics doesn't work like that." Mister Zelgadis glanced at Miss Leigh and Miss Donla.

"We'll leave you two alone to finish your discussion," Miss Leigh said.

"Miss Leigh? Miss Donla?" Amelia said. "I hate to ask, but..."

"No one will hear about what you and Prince Christopher talked about from me," Miss Leigh said. "Or my apprentice, either," she added, with a look to Donla.

After the two had headed into the other room, Amelia started to speak. "I'm sorry for dragging you out here, and I'm willing to go alone to Jarei-"

"Oh, hell, no," Mister Zelgadis said. "You'll get into trouble if you don't have someone there watching your back and holding you back. I'm starting to think that's a full-time job."

"I did pretty well here in Redcliffe," Amelia said. "I didn't make a single speech about Justice, no matter how tempted I was. _And_ there was only _one_ time I tried a dramatic entrance."

"Two," Zelgadis said, holding up two fingers. "Remember the night of the storm?"

"That wasn't a dramatic entrance, that was a charge."

"Still," Zelgadis crossed his arms. "Most people here like you, our spy and saboteur excepted. More than that, most of them are deferential towards you. Not only are you the princess of the whole damn country, you're the one who set all of this," he waved a hand, evidently meaning to take in the scenery behind the walls of the workroom, "up. You've said it yourself; a lot of these people would be homeless if it wasn't for you. That's going to make things a bit easier than heading off to some foreign country where even the people who might be allies are doing it for their own reasons, and a lot of them probably don't care much for you."

"I've travelled before," Amelia said.

"As Amelia, mostly, not as the Princess of Saillune. The last diplomatic mission I've seen you go on, you ended up washed out to sea on a boat. Before that, you ended up a hostage in Xoana."

"Which was your doing, if I recall correctly," Amelia interjected. "And the thing with Miss Filia and the tsunami was nothing anyone could have predicted. If I had known Miss Lina was in town before I showed up, then _maybe_ I might have expected a tsunami would occur. Maybe. The point is, I've grown up, really I have, Mister Zelgadis. I'm not the little girl who thought that the villains had to wear black and kick puppies for fun. For that matter, I've worked with some pretty sketchy people when we shared a goal." And she wasn't going to name names here. "Even a mazoku like Mister Xellos. I think I'm ready for this."

Mister Zelgadis sighed. "If I refuse, you'll just go alone, won't you?"

"It needs to be done. I can see if I can find someone here to accompany me if I really had to - maybe Miss Donla would be willing to interrupt her studies."

"Well, it's not like I need to be anywhere. Lina's getting Rezo's notes for me. Or she will, once I get a hold of her."

Amelia paused. "What about your school? I thought you were doing so well at the Guild."

"Amelia, I'm not learning anything there that I couldn't pick up by just staying in one place and really going over a good library. I thought I might learn something new, something I couldn't get from a book or trading secrets with you and Lina, but," he shrugged, "not especially. And I don't care if I'm a member of the Sorcerers' Guild or not. It's not like I'm in civilization enough to enjoy the benefits, and I can probably get access to the libraries for a lot less effort than putting up with another couple of years of school. So I'm not going back. I tried, and it's just not working."

"I'm sorry, Mister Zelgadis," Amelia said. "But I am glad you're accompanying me." She smiled at him.

"Because you need someone who knows how to think sneaky?" Mister Zelgadis said.

"Because I'm going into a foreign country, and I like having one of my dear friends, who I trust with my life," Amelia replied.

* * *

Lina Inverse didn't much care for magic guilds. Sure, she kept up her dues, just in case she needed something. It wasn't like they charged all that much; the rates were mostly set for those ivory-tower research sorcerers who took in students to make a living, rather than a successful traveling sorceress like her. And it let her keep an eye on things back in Saillune. Never let it be said that having advanced knowledge of where Prince Phil might show up was not a good thing.

But, all the politics - even ignoring the whole mess with Halcyform that had happened a couple of years ago - and the stupid titles and the robes. WHile she could appreciate a good cape, perhaps sprinkled with occult-looking designs, and some talismans, she saw no reason to go all out with the silly hats and robes and color-coding and such. If you were going to dress up or look intimidating, she reasoned, you might as well look good while doing it, instead of like someone wearing a very expensive bed sheet and his mother's fancy hat, in a color that some idiot had picked because he had some questionable ideas about adorable young sorcery prodigies.

But, anyway, while she might object to the pageantry of the Guilds, and the stupid internal politics, and having to listen to stuffy old mages talk about research that only they cared about, she liked having access to some of the facilities. Like now. It had taken her note weeks to get to Zelgadis, since he had taken up traveling again. Now that she knew where he was, it would only take minutes to see what he wanted. Normally, she could have just passed a note via Amelia, who had just given him some charm that worked as a small Vision spell, and who most of the time stayed in one place. But she was with him. And about damn time, too, given how Amelia had that crush on Zel, and Zel... well, who knows what Zel really thought, with him being Mister Stoic and all, but he seemed to like Amelia, not that he'd ever even say anything.

Gourry was with her, of course, even though she knew magic, except for the kinds that were being hurled at him or helping him out, was about as interesting to him as watching grass grow. On the other hand, he did like talking to Zel, and it wasn't that often that the two men talked nowadays. Sure, they could have dropped in earlier, but there were always new places to go, buffets to get kicked out of, and bandits to teach the meaning of fear. And, ever since Gourry had returned the Sword of Light to the Overworlders, magical swords to track down.

It was almost the time Zelgadis had asked them to call him back at. Lina stepped into the Hall of Visions, greeting the attendant. "I have an appointment. Lina Inverse, eleven o'clock."

"And your bodyguard?" the young mage looked at Gourry.

"He's with me," Lina said. "Don't worry about him."

"So how's this magic stuff work?" Gourry asked.

"Do you really want to know?" Lina answered. It was hard to tell what he'd actually remember - in most cases Gourry held onto the things she told him about magic about as well as a sieve held onto water, but you never know when he'd bring some detail up at just the right time.

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have asked," he replied.

"So, there's this spell, Vision, that lets you talk to people who are far away. Useful, right? Only it's a really complicated spell. Even a genius sorceress like myself would have problems managing it on her own. In a pinch, you can use a special magic item, like a crystal ball, or have several sorcerers work together, but the best way to use the spell is to build a special room, and enchant it to help the spell, so you only need one caster." Lina watched him for a reaction.

"Oh, I get it," Gourry said. "So, this will let you talk to Zel, right? What if he doesn't have one of these hall of whats-its where he is?"

"Well, he had to have something," Lina said. "Normally, Amelia gave him something to let her talk to him, but that only works between those two."

"Is that why she gave him her bracelet?" Gourry asked. "I thought it was just because she likes him. I suppose if she likes him, she'd want to be able to talk to him, huh?"

"Yeah, that's right. But she's with him, so he can't just ask her to relay the message. So, he must have either gotten some general item, or he's got other magic users helping him."

"I see. So, we're gonna call him, then?"

"No, we've got to wait until he calls us. It's hard to call to a bunch of people you don't know. If it's a Hall of Visions, though, you can just use the spell to get there, and whoever is there can answer."

The attendant, who had been filling out the log book, thrust it towards Lina. "Sign here please, Miss Inverse," she said. Lina did so. "It's nearly time. Your call should arrive soon."

Indeed, it wasn't long before the whole place started lighting up like it was covered in fireflies. The attendant took her place and started chanting a spell that would help the signal come through. In the center of the room, an image started to take form: ghostly, and monochrome, but definitely Zelgadis. Lina could see a bit of the background, Amelia and two sorceresses she didn't recognize holding up the spell on his end. "Hi, Zel."

"Lina. Gourry. Long time no see." He nodded to them, a warm welcome from the chimera. "Your letter said you'd found a book that I might find interesting."

Lina shifted her weight. He wasn't going to like the news. "Yeah, Zel, about that..."

"What is it, Lina?" Zelgadis was never one to miss the hint of bad news.

"Well, most of the stuff for the auction was stolen on its way to Atlas City," Lina said. "Gourry and I are getting paid by the Atlas City Sorcerers' Guild to hunt down the bandits, though." She grinned. There was something classic about stomping bandits. No real ethical concerns, no nearly impossible to win fights, sometimes little surprises to keep a sorcery genius and her partner on their toes, but nothing worse than finding out you just accidentally picked a bandit gang that was spectacularly unsuccessful.

Plus, the Guild had said she could keep any coins, minus the ones the merchant caravan had claimed, and the profits from any items no one claimed in thirty days. Not quite as good as freelance bandit-stomping, when she would have kept everything (well, split with Gourry, but she handled the money in the partnership), but she was also getting paid a nice fee from the Guild itself, so even if the bandits didn't have anything worth it, she'd still come out ahead.

Best of all, it wasn't likely to lead to any serious trouble for her. That was one of the problems with being a sorcery genius: every little two-bit magician and minor demon thought that if they managed to knock her off her throne, they'd get instant fame. Which was _true_, of course, but most of them had about as much chance of winning that as winning the lead role in the Saillune Ballet. Gourry had the same problem: Zangulus had been the first in an irritating barrage of swordsmen, pikemen, axmen and even a literal fanboy all trying to beat him in a fight.

Zelgadis sighed. "I don't suppose you can let me know when you get those books back. At the very least, I could tell the Guild if they really have one of Rezo's books."

"Sure, Zel. Heading back to the city yourself, or are you and Amelia off to Saillune?" She grinned at him.

"Actually, Amelia and I are heading to Jarei. She's got business out there, and I offered to keep her out of trouble."

Very interesting. "That's nice of you, Zel," Gourry said.

"Sounds romantic," Lina grinned at Zelgadis. "Given up on your cure and going to chase something else, huh?"

"Cut it out, Lina. This is because I gave you and Gourry a hard time last time I saw you, isn't it? I'm waiting for that book you found." It was hard to tell if Zel was blushing through the spell.

"Whatever," Lina grinned at him. It was good talking to Zel again, and he did seem to be in higher spirits than usual. Having some company and something actually going right in his life was doing wonders for his mood. "I'll check in with you again once I find the book."

"Thank you, Lina." Zel nodded at her. "If you find anything out, tell me."

"Sure thing, Zel." Lina grinned at him. "Tell us if the food is any good. We don't normally head out near Elemekia, and we might be missing something."

"Have fun on holiday with Amelia," Gourry waved.

Zelgadis grumbled something that might have been a response to that. "Good bye, you two." The spell ended abruptly.

"He's a bit of a sour puss, isn't he?" Lina said, as they walked out of the Guild hall.

"He is better than he's been," Gourry replied. "I don't think I've seen him this happy in a while."

"I'm surprised you remember that far back," Lina replied, gently punching his arm.

"I'm trying very hard," Gourry said, frowning. "It was just that one time I forgot."

"I know, Jellyfish, I'm just teasing you," Lina grinned. "You know, I heard there's an all-you-can-eat-for-a-silver-piece restaurant in town that opened since the last time we visited." Which was a crucial trait; everywhere else in the city tended to be suspiciously closed or full when she visited more than once.

"Sounds good to me," Gourry said. "So, who are the bandits in the area?"

"Three gangs," Lina said. "Mostly pretty far away from the city - maybe a couple of days' walk."

"We better eat even more, then. The food probably won't be as good in the villages."

* * *

Amelia was already starting to pack. Mister Zelgadis, having never taken his clothing out of the bag, sat on the bed in Mister Galatei's spare room and watched her. "If I had known I'd be doing diplomacy," she said, "I would have packed more clothing."

"Why do you need all that?" he asked.

"Well, it's a matter of looking the part. It's sort of like how Mister Gourry wears his armor, even if he's eating lunch. You _know_ he's a swordsman that way, just like you _know_ Miss Lina is a sorceress because she's got a cloak and all those gems on her shoulder guards, and her Demon's Blood Talismans. The nice dresses mean I look like a princess."

"I still think they could look a bit more practical, while still looking princess like," Mister Zelgadis said. "If you got into a fight..."

"I guess it's to show I have people to do my practical stuff for me," Amelia said.

"Well, you can buy them in Jarei," Mister Zelgadis said. "And you might be a princess, but you're also trying to be a diplomat."

"What about you?" Amelia asked.

"What _about_ me?" Mister Zelgadis asked. "I have clothing, and my supplies. I don't need any more."

"Well, you're traveling as my..." Amelia paused, not quite sure how to complete the sentence.

"Your what?"

"I don't know. What would you like to be? A bodyguard, an assistant, a sorcerer, a diplomat?"

"Your friend. Who doesn't dress up." Mister Zelgadis crossed his arms. "Trust me. I'd look ridiculous in court clothing. Like one of those dancing bears or something."

"I'd think you'd look cool, Mister Zelgadis. You'd do the mysterious thing quite well, and that could work for you." Amelia said. Really, he would look rather dashing, she thought. Zelgadis naturally projected a confident aura. Though, if he felt silly, it probably wouldn't work as well. "Though if you like, we could always dig out the robes the Sorcerers' Guild gave you. Sorcerer's robes are always appropriate."

Mister Zelgadis didn't answer that, at least not verbally, though the snort he gave probably counted as a no. "Why do I need to dress up, anyway, if I'm not going to be representing Saillune or the Royal Family?"

"Well, because it's just appropriate," Amelia said. "And I'd like you to."

Mister Zelgadis sighed. "No tights. No ruffles. No velvet or extra embroidery. And I want a belt to hold my sword."

Amelia grinned. "Thank you, Mister Zelgadis." She wanted to hug him, but she held back to just give him a pat on the arm. And she was almost finished with packing as well. "Do you know anything about Jarei?"

"They're a pretty old country. Used to be a major power, before Phibrizzo settled in the Desert of Destruction a thousand years ago. There's a lot of old ruins down there," he said. "I've checked out a few, after I returned from the Outer World."

Amelia frowned as she folded her spare cape into her trunk. "You aren't in trouble around there for grave robbing, are you, Mister Zelgadis?"

"No," he said. "What kind of question is that, anyway?"

"Well, I remember how you were in the Outer World," she said. "Before Miss Filia got us all heading to the Temple of the Fire Dragon Lord, you were pretty intent on busting open every ruin, temple and library in town."

"That was because I was in a hurry," Mister Zelgadis said. "When I have more time, I'm a lot more careful about things."

"Well, that's good. I'd hate for you to be arrested for something you'd did a while ago." Amelia said.

"I'd hate to be arrested period."

"Do you remember Archmage Nasim Awel?" Amelia asked. "We met him at the Guild a couple of weeks ago."

"Yes," Zelgadis said. "He didn't much like me."

"Oh, you're so sensitive, Mister Zelgadis."

"I'm not sensitive," he said. "A lot of people aren't comfortable with chimeras."

"That's different from not liking them. Maybe he was just a bit surprised by you. I'm sure once he got to know you, he'd be fine. And that doesn't mean that everyone in Jarei thinks like that. He was originally from Sairaag, if I recall correctly," Amelia said. "I don't think I've met any native Jareians."

"And Claire Sholei," Zelgadis added darkly.

"She was raised in Elemekia," Amelia said.

"She also was willing to sell your project out to the Jareians."

"To a faction from Jarei. We're going to see if her thoughts represent Jarei or not."

Mister Zelgadis said nothing, but he nodded.

"What was your sense of the people, then, Mister Zelgadis? Since you actually went there. I know Jarei was pretty egalitarian, even back in the old days, before the Kouma war. Saillune modeled a lot of their laws when it was founded."

"How so?"

"Well, property laws, and inheritance laws and so on. There were some places back north that only let a woman inherit a title if she had no brothers or sons, back then. It's a lot better now, but back then, having ruling Queens and Duchesses and Countesses was a radical idea. Jarei had even inheritance. They still do. In fact, they've got a pretty strong tradition of women warriors."

"I see," Mister Zelgadis said. "I didn't much pay attention to the people, I confess. They seemed like people to me."

"Mister Zelgadis," she said. "That's not helpful at all." Amelia closed her trunk, leaving out a piece of note paper and a pencil. "I'm going to start making a list of what we need to do before the coach leaves tomorrow. Do you mind if I send your measurements ahead?"

"Not at all," Mister Zelgadis pulled out a piece of paper from his pockets, after some digging. It was pretty worn, but had a set of numbers written out in black ink, in Mister Zelgadis's neat handwriting.

"You keep your measurements on a piece of paper?" Amelia asked, with a raised eyebrow and amusement in her voice.

"I hate tailors," he replied simply. "If I need to replace some of my clothing, and it still fits, I see no reason to have to submit to being measured again. And this way, I can just order it, then pick it up with no fuss. It's not like it takes much to make a simple pair of pants and a tunic."

"That's true," Amelia said. "I just can't imagine you caring, after the fuss about the clothing you just put up. I'll just send the list ahead to the Temple of Ceipheed at Jarei City. I have some other instructions for them as well."

"Like?" Mister Zelgadis asked.

"Oh, just making sure we have a guide prepared," she said. "I'll be right back. I can probably manage the message myself, but I might need some amplification from Miss Leigh's workroom."

"Remember, no lace, no ruffles, no tights-"

"I remember, Mister Zelgadis. Don't worry so much." Amelia grinned at him.

"I wouldn't worry so much if I didn't think you liked making me your fashion doll. I remember Femille," he said, "and don't say that I looked pretty there."

"All right, I won't." Amelia said. "But you _did_ manage to fool everyone there, including the Queen and Mister Miwan."

"That's because most of them were men in disguise. They probably had forgotten what a real woman looked like. "

"So they'd be even better at spotting another man, dressed up." Amelia grinned. "But you'll look like a man, I promise, Mister Zelgadis. I wasn't planning anything like that. On my honor as a champion of Justice. So I'll be right back, all right?" She left before he could get in a retort.


	2. Chapter 2

"It's not here, either," Lina said, going through the stack of bandit treasure. "Damn bandits." Most of the bandits themselves had either run or limped away, aided by the bursts of wind spells and Gourry's muscles. Ordinarily, she'd be quite happy with the haul: gold and gems, and some rare books and a couple of magic items. Not to mention the cheap armor and stack of weapons the bandits had left behind. Someone might find them useful, and they were close enough to a village she could ask a leather worker or blacksmith if they wanted to take it off her hands. For a small fee of course.

"That was all three of them, wasn't it?" Gourry said, keeping guard over her as she counted the treasure.

"I thought so," Lina said. "That was the Griffon's Teeth. The other two were the Blue Foxes and Ragnal's... no, Robert's Rouges." Bandits were getting more and more uncreative with their gang names. Lina swore that one of these days, she'd find the book all of them seemed to pull their names from. And set it on fire.

"What do we do now?" Gourry asked.

"Start looking around for more rumors of banditry," she said. "We can take all our loot back to town to sell it." She'd have to use her talisman-making trick to make most of the gems worth anything, but that wasn't a horrible burden. "While I'm doing that, can you start asking around the mercenary parts of town to see if they know anything?" That was something nice, that she'd never thought about before Gourry had started to travel with her. Most mercenaries wouldn't bother to talk to her, except to make lewd comments, and then she'd just have to fireball them, which wasn't that good for getting information out of them, even if it felt damn good. Gourry was one of the guys, apparently, so they'd actually tell him things.

"I don't know, Lina," Gourry said. "They might know something about bandits, but if a mercenary group did it, they wouldn't be talking about it around town. It's bad business."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah. If your boss thinks you'll tell the guys at the bar about your last job when it was supposed to be a secret, or what you're about to do, then he might think you'll accidentally tell a spy about it," Gourry said. "So a lot of mercenaries only pass on stuff about bandit gangs and things like that."

"You think a merc group might have done it?" Lina asked. She was a bit surprised. Gourry was usually content to just follow her lead, and let her do most of the investigating. It wasn't like him to seriously suggest an idea. Of course, it was worth listening to - he did seem to know what other warriors thought. Lina suspected he once had done mercenary work, before he met her, though Gourry always seemed to change the subject whenever she tried to ask him about it. He showed a remarkable ability to distract her from questions about his past when he wanted to. Gourry had a certain amount of irritating cunning that was usually masked by his poor memory and denseness to anything that didn't involve food or swordplay.

"It's possible. Not a reputable group, though. Most of them would lose business if anyone found out they were stealing from caravans. Unless there was a war on between Atlas City and someone. Then attacking caravans would be fair game."

"So, we just have to find out who is so disreputable or so hard up for money that it doesn't matter if they attack caravans for money," Lina said. She had separated out the gems and coins, which was looking quite substantial, from the stuff. There was some nicer things, like a pretty impressive war hammer that looked nice enough to be enchanted, as well as some old books. It at the very least would give them some food and inn money to find out about the bandits. "I'll carry the gems and coins. Gourry will you take the other stuff?"

"Sure thing, Lina," Gourry gathered most of it up, putting it in a sack. He picked up the hammer, giving it a few experimental swings.

"Thinking about keeping it?" Lina asked.

"I prefer swords," he said. "But this is a pretty nice hammer. Is it magic?"

"Could be. I'd have to check it. If it is, will you keep it, or should I sell it to one of the magic shops in town?" They were still looking for a replacement for the Sword of Light, after all. Currently Gourry had just a normal sword, coated in silver. It was fine against bandits, and the silver meant that, combined with Gourry's powerful force of will, could do something against demons and even some lesser mazoku. Still wouldn't be useful if they ran into something really tough. And repairing the damn thing was really cutting into their budget. Even when Gourry's strength didn't break it, silver plating was easy to chip.

"Nah. This sword will do for now," Gourry said. "We'll find something better soon."

Lina nodded. "I hope so, Jellyfish." She finished putting the gems into a pocket in her cloak. "Let's go."

The nearest town was a couple of hours walk. Not horrible, but a bit strenuous after the fight. Lina was ready to collapse once they got back to their inn room. She sprawled out on the bed, kicking off her boots and throwing her cloak over the chair. Gourry paused. "Should we get another inn room for me?" he asked.

"Whatever you think, Gourry," she said. "There are two beds, so you better not just sleep on the floor."

"I wasn't planning on it." He sat down on the chair, facing backwards, and folded his hands on the top of the back. He had already taken off his armor and sword, leaving them by the door, in a surprisingly neat pile. "I just wanted to be sure you wouldn't mind what I did."

"It's a small inn, so you might not be able to get a room," she said. "Just don't try to take advantage of my maidenly innocence, all right?"

"Of course not," he said. It was a familiar routine in small towns for them. One of them would make a joke about improper behavior, and the other would assure that nothing of the sort would happen. Things had come a long way from the first time they'd been stuck together. The jokes were safe now, because she knew damn well that Gourry wouldn't take advantage of her, nor she him. They were in a comfortable spot right now, the intimacy of a long partnership. Sometimes she wondered what would happen if one of them had tried to take it further, to try to make their relationship more physical. It might be nice. Gourry was a pretty handsome guy, in a kind of dumb-looking guy next door kind of way. On the other hand, she didn't know how he'd react if she tried anything. One moment he could be telling her that he intended to follow her for the rest of his life, which damn well like some kind of proposition, then the next, he could be making a boob joke.

Men were confusing, Lina thought.

"Hey, Lina, what are you thinking about?" Gourry asked.

"What we have to do tomorrow. You think we should head back to Atlas City, or would another place work better for talking to mercenaries?" she asked.

"I think Atlas City would work better," he said. "Even with it being kind of a magic town, there's a lot of agents and stuff, and guys on break. A lot of the better companies will just be finishing up seasonal contracts and looking for guard duty."

"Good. We'll leave in the morning."

hr

The scrub thinned out as they crossed the border into Jarei, turning into mostly rocks and sand and very few plants. "How do people live out here?" Zelgadis asked as they watched things go by in the coach.

"Mostly around the oases and rivers," Amelia said. "The river valleys have a pretty extensive irrigation system. And a lot of the techniques we used back in the South for water were pioneered in Jarei."

The buildings looked a lot like the ones in the South as well - mud-brick with tile roofs, which were wonderfully cool when they stopped in midday. It was getting impossible to travel during the hot part of the day, so they'd stop in a town, or a roadside inn - mostly spaced conveniently about a half a day apart, even if it was mostly just a way point in the desert. Many of the towns had fountains, used to water the horses and the camels that started to become common beasts of burden, and the rare ostrich-horse or riding lizard, probably imported from the Outer World. The architecture changed in subtle ways. While Saillune seemed to rely on paint for their decor, the Jareians used tiles to do some spectacular geometric designs. The brightly-colored glazes contrasted with the brilliantly whitewashed hardened mudbrick. The food was different as well: a lot was highly spiced, and cut into small pieces before it was quickly cooked over a charcoal fire. The coffee was brewed strong and heavily spiced. Zelgadis took up drinking tea with anything after breakfast, just so he could sleep at night.

It was nearly a week before they got into the capital. Outside, the desert was the same stark gold that it had been for the last day, with occasional outcrops of lighter rock, but, from the hills they spent their last night on, the city looked like a green and white and terra-cotta bead on a green string of cropland along the river. It was surrounded by walls, with guards in bronze-covered armor standing at the gates. All and all, it was a very impressive and large city, and Zelgadis had to fight the urge to draw up his cloak around him and hide. It was too damn hot for the cloak, even in the morning, anyway, though he'd been quite glad to have it after sunset when the desert had cooled off.

"We're stopping at the Temple first. We're not expected until tonight, anyway," Amelia said. "No one goes out during the noonish hours in the summer, so we can relax."

"Good," Zelgadis said. The trip to Jarei had been about as uncomfortable as the trip to Redcliffe had been. He was beginning to think he should just walk everywhere - it felt better, even if it was more tiring and slower. Perhaps it was just that the coaches weren't built for his extra weight. Amelia didn't seem to have as much of a problem, though she moved gingerly every time they stopped for a break.

"Excuse me." The coach had stopped and one of the gate guards, young enough that he still looked like hadn't grown into his armor, had walked up. "We ask that all people entering the city please present all weapons to be inspected and peace bonded. As a foreigner, I'm afraid I'm going to have to search your coach."

"We have papers," Amelia said. "I'm Princess Amelia wil tesla Saillune of the Kingdom of Saillune, and this is my friend Mister Zelgadis Graywords." She had taken out the Royal Crest, and something signed by the border guards, and held it out to the guard. "As diplomatic representatives, we were guaranteed avoidance of search and the allowance of one sword or polearm per party member." Zelgadis wondered if that meant he could have an extra, since Amelia never carried anything more serious than dinner cutlery, her fists, and a lot of magic.

"I didn't receive any orders regarding a representative from Saillune," the guard said. "You'll forgive me, Princess, if I send a runner down to the palace to confirm this."

"And how long will that take?" Zelgadis asked.

Amelia gave him a look. "I'd hate to obstruct traffic for that long," she said. "I'm sure there are a bunch of merchants behind me who would like to use this gate as well."

"Never the less, Princess, this is standard operating procedure. My sergeant would have my hide if I let a foreign coach through without searching it."

"Then send him out, and you go find someone who knows what he's doing," Zelgadis said crankily. It was already starting to get hot, and now he was remembering why he hated cities.

The guard left, though the barricade remained in front of the coach, preventing them from just plowing forward. Zelgadis was tempted to tell the coachman to do it anyway, though Amelia would probably contradict that unless the guard really started giving them a hard time. iWhen did she turn into the responsible one/i, he wondered. Probably about the time that he had joined up with her. It was harder to slide past the rules when traveling in public. There were probably at least ten ways into the city without being searched, none of which one could take a coach on, or would let you be publicly visible afterward.

About the time he hoped for a highway robbery to happen in the gate, causing Amelia in a fit of Justice! to order the coachman to ram the barricade, the guard sergeant, a woman in her thirties, with braided black hair peaking out from under her helmet, showed up. "Hello, Your Highness," she said. "My apologies for the delay. We didn't think you'd arrive before the noon siesta."

"So, then, can we pass into the city?" Amelia asked. "There were some problems with customs..."

"All taken care of," the sergeant said. "Enjoy your stay in Jarei, Your Highness, Mister Graywords. I'll be sending a runner to guide you to the Temple."

Once they were safely away from the guard station, and into the city proper, Zelgadis edged closer to the window of the coach. He didn't really want to be seen, but it was a good idea to scope out what the city was like. Most of the useful bits, such as where to find the black market, or the parts of town where less legal services happened, and the unseemly bits would be omitted from their brief trip through the city. He'd just have to seek them out later, preferably without Amelia. One never knew when they'd come in handy, after all.

The parts of the city they did see were quite beautiful, he had to admit. Most of them had wide streets, filled in with cobblestones and full of carts and pedestrians. Many of what had to be restaurants and cafes were open air, with seating in front of the store itself, covered by awnings or the fronds of palm trees. As they rolled on, they could see down the cross streets into what looked like a giant open air market place. Most of the people were dressed in loose, brightly colored long tunics and pants, with a variety of hats and hoods. To his surprise, there didn't seem to be much distinction between women's dress and men's. Though this wasn't unusual for most traveling adventurers, most sedentary women back west favored dresses, rather than trousers.

They arrived at the Temple, and disembarked from the coach, letting it drop off the mail that was the normal part of its route. Their guide, the guard from earlier, mounted on one of the riding lizards, nodded to them, then headed back towards what Zelgadis guessed was the gate. He made a note to get a map of the city as soon as he could, so that he and Amelia wouldn't need to rely on their hosts. "Should we go inside?" Zelgadis asked.

"I suppose so. The Temple did promise us a guide," Amelia replied.

As if Amelia could conjure people out of air, they heard footsteps at the Temple gate. "Hello, Princess Amelia, Mister Zelgadis."

Zelgadis did a double take. "Miwan? What the hell are you doing all the way out here?"

Indeed it was the Femillian former Princess... or Prince, depending on what you wanted to call a young man raised as a shrine maiden in an all-female town. He looked a bit more masculine than the last time Zelgadis saw him. Not that that was saying much, but pants did help. The short sword at his belt didn't hurt either. "Well," Miwan said, "After the whole falling out with my mother, I decided to travel the world and find out who I really was. Because I was trained as a shrine maiden, I could get food and lodgings at the temples as I travelled. I eventually ended up in Jarei, and decided to stay. I'm being trained as one of the temple's knights." He grinned. "When I heard you and Miss Amelia were coming to town, I volunteered to be your guide."

"Thanks," Zelgadis glanced at Amelia, trying to gauge her reaction. He remembered she hadn't much liked Miwan when the two had first met, though some of that had been what he thought was jealousy that he was paying attention to another 'woman'. No chance of that now, though.

Amelia might not have been thrilled to see Miwan, but her face didn't show it. She smiled. "It's nice to hear things are working out so well for you, Mister Miwan." She held out her hand, and Miwan shook it. "Can you show us inside."

"Of course." They got a brief tour of the Temple then. The courtyard had a statue to Ceipheed that looked a lot like a replica of the one in Saillune City. There was also one of the ever-present fountains, and some small pots of desert-blooming flowers. Off of that, there were quarters for priests, the small group of temple knights that Miwan had joined, and guests. There was also a small bath in the basement, but, Miwan explained, most of the temple's residents just used the public bath down the street. On the other side were the kitchens and dining rooms, and various rooms for meetings or prayers. They were also shown into the Temple proper, but by that time, Zelgadis was just willing to make a few comments, then ask to be shown back to their rooms.

"At least, there's enough space for two rooms, this time," he commented.

Miwan raised his eyebrows. "I wasn't aware you two were-"

Amelia had turned a rather red color. "That's inot/i what Mister Zelgadis meant. The last town we stayed at was so small that we had to make two rooms by hanging up a sheet in the only guest room in town."

"Exactly. It'll be nice not having half of a small room," he continued.

"Just so," Miwan nodded. "I have to get back to my studies. Just find a novice if you need to go anywhere before evening." With that, he left them alone.

"Honestly, Mister Zelgadis, that sounded like something Mister Gourry would say." Amelia said. "You have to be more careful.

"I will, all right? I didn't think he'd read ithat/i into what I said," Zelgadis noted now his cheeks felt warm. It had to be the heat. "So what time do we have to be anywhere?"

"Seven in the evening." Amelia said. "You might want to take a nap since we'll be out late. Also, the tailor should have left clothing for you in your room."

"Oh, boy," Zelgadis said. He wasn't looking forward to whatever had been picked out for him, even if Amelia had made all those promises about what not to use.

"Don't worry about it, Mister Zelgadis." She grinned at him. "I'm sure tonight will go perfectly."

hr

When making arrangements from Redcliffe, Amelia had opted to go with more local fashions, in the interests of time. Things like this would be hard enough to arrange on a week's notice, and having High Priestess Calande try to find someone willing to sew two sets of clothing in the Saillune style was a bit too much. As a result, this was her first time not wearing a dress to an official function. Granted the trousers fit very well for a garment made while she was days away from the maker, and were a pleasant shade of turquoise that matched her boots, and made of some nice fabric that she couldn't quite identify, but felt soft under her hands, but it was still just to not feel the swish of skirts around her legs.

She half thought she looked like a boy, and there wasn't a mirror where she could see anything out of it. She could have requested a shrine maiden's robes, which would both be appropriate and different, but wouldn't have the gravitas a diplomat needed. She finished running her brush through her hair, and tried to guess about the placement of hatpins without the mirror. Tomorrow she'd just have to find a mirror. iWell, it's the best I can do for now. I'll have to ask Mister Zelgadis if everything looks straight. Or maybe Mister Miwan - he at least might know something about women's clothing, and he might know what the local women look like./i She half wondered if this was some sort of elaborate prank to make the foreigners look foolish.

iBe more confident, Amelia! True virtue shines from within, regardless of what you wear! /iShe straightened her back, mentally braced herself and exited her room, grabbing her cape off the chair. Mister Zelgadis was staying just next door. She knocked on the door.

"One moment," came the muffled sound. She heard the sounds of heavy footsteps, and then he answered the door.

She had to admit, he did look good, even if he was scowling a bit. But, really, that was probably the best one could hope for with Mister Zelgadis. The colors suited him well. She had suggested dark blues, which went well with his skin and hair. And, thankfully, the local fashion allowed trousers, not robes or hose. He had already buckled on his swordbelt over the doublet and was holding the half cape in his hands.

"You forgot your hat," she said.

"I'm not wearing it," Mister Zelgadis replied. "It's silly looking. It looks too much like the one I got stuck in when Lina and I were shipwrecked at that amusement park. The vest thing is bad enough."

"When in Jarei, Mister Zelgadis." Amelia tried to give him an encouraging smile. "You might stand out more if you don't wear it, for all you know."

"I can't imagine how," he said. He practically threw the cape over his shoulder in a gesture that made Amelia wonder if he knew how cool it make him look, and was doing it for her benefit. iDown, Amelia/i.

"And you do know, you'll have to leave your sword behind, or leave it with the guards at the palace. I think it would make the guards flustered and stern if you were wearing it around the king."

"It's not like I'm going to chop the king's head off," Mister Zelgadis said. "Besides, I'm just as dangerous without it as with it. Most of the guards couldn't cut through my skin, or deal with spells."

"That's not really the point," Amelia said. "It's a matter of appearances."

Zelgadis sighed. "I'll peace-bind it, all right?" He fished out a piece of cord from his belt pouch and securely looped it through sword and scabbard. "Where's Miwan? Let's get this over with. I'm starving."

"He should be here soon," Amelia straightened her own clothing self-consciously. And waited, in silence. After about five minutes, she couldn't stand it and said the first thing that came to her mind. "Mister Zelgadis, this might seem like an odd question, but..."

He gave her a curious look. "But what?"

"But, well... do you think I look feminine in this?" She stood up, tucking her hands behind her back, and suddenly realized how immature that made her sound. "Um, you don't have to answer that. I was just concerned, it's all."

Zelgadis looked at her. "You look fine. Anyway, most men wouldn't wear your jewelry, or have that much lavender on. And, if you're really concerned, I think our tunics are cut a lot differently." He paused, suddenly looking down in a way that a man acquainted with Lina Inverse's hair-trigger temper about her figure found almost reflexive after the first couple of explosions. "Not that I was staring, of course."

"Well, I did ask, so maybe it was all right this one time," Amelia said, shifting her weight. "Thank you Mister Zelgadis."

Thankfully, Mister Miwan finally chose to interrupt, along with an older woman, dressed in Temple robes, her curly hair cut short, and tucked under a fitted cap. Mister Miwan himself seemed to be in some kind of uniform, with the Temple's symbol sewn onto the right breast, and one of those floppy hats Amelia always associated with the more flamboyant types of swordsmen. "Hello again, Mister Zelgadis, Princess Amelia," Miwan bowed to them. "May I introduce High Priest Esther Calande, leader of the Temple of Ceipheed in Jarei. Your Holiness, this is Her Highness Princess Amelia wil tesla Saillune and Mister Zelgadis Graywords."

Amelia frowned. "High Priest?" She looked at Mister Miwan again, and then at Esther Calande, who had a rather... imatronly/i chest for a high priest, and tried to decide if her ability to tell male from female had just been completely fried by the desert. She was tempted to look back at Mister Zelgadis, just to be sure someone was still what they seemed to be.

"The Jarei prefer gender neutral titles," the old woman smiled at her. "I'm originally from Saillune myself, Princess, so I can understand your puzzlement. Don't be surprised if someone slips up tonight."

"Oh." Well, that was strange. Even Saillune had never eliminated the old titles, even if a King-regnant was the same as a Queen-regnant, a king-consort the same as a queen-consort, and a prince was the same as a princess, all the way down through the lords and ladies. A bit disconcerting even. If that was her worst problem with Jarei customs, though, she'd be lucky. "I suppose that's not all bad. The prince always got the better part in the old fairy tales."

"Prefer to be the one doing the heroic rescue, rather than needing to be heroically rescued, huh?" Zelgadis gave her a faint smile.

"Exactly, Mister Zelgadis." That boosted her confidence a bit.

"Let's hope no one needs to be rescued tonight," High Priest Calande said.

"Of course," Amelia replied. "Let's get going, then."

It was around sunset, and the orange glow of twilight colored the white buildings russet. It was still warm out, though, with none of the evening's chill setting in yet. The lamplighters were already going around. Amelia watched them as they walked. "Are all the streets lit by magic?" she asked.

"Only the main ones," High Priest Calande replied. "Some of the neighborhoods might put in the lights privately, though." Out of her corner of her eye, she saw Mister Zelgadis give a slight nod, as if he was confirming something he had thought of earlier. "We're very close to the palace," High Priest Calande continued. "It'll just be a short walk. I presume you don't want to bother with a carriage."

"No," Mister Zelgadis said. "We've been driven around enough for one week."

Amelia saw High Priest Calande glance at her, and she nodded. "I agree with Mister Zelgadis. We've walked enough in our lives that a little more won't hurt." And she was in comfortable shoes, which was a plus. A lot of the things she had worn for other dress occasions were either shoes meant more to be seen than walked in, or comfortable slippers that would be torn up by anything more rough than a dance floor.

"All right, Princess," High Priest Calande nodded. "Just tell me if you change your mind, and I'll have Miwan send for someone."

"Plus, I get a better view of the city this way," Amelia said. "Even if it's just for a short while."

They had left the plaza the temple faced, and had turned into a wide boulevard, with date trees growing regularly down the center and on either side. Someone had not only lit the lamps, but had set glowing stones on garlands on the trees, making it almost look like they had been transplanted from an elven forest somewhere. At the end of the boulevard, was a wall, and a gate, with two guards, dressed more finely than the city guards they had met that morning. They must be at the Royal Palace.

The guards were more cooperative, or perhaps better informed, than the ones earlier, or else they recognized the locals and were willing to wave in any guest of theirs. As a result, there was no hassle at all in getting in. As she had expected, they did inspect Mister Zelgadis's sword briefly, though the cord preventing him from drawing it quickly seemed to satisfy them. At the gate, Miwan waved goodbye to them. "I just was to escort you two and the high priest to the palace. Have fun."

"Goodbye, Mister Miwan," Amelia waved back. It was amazing what a couple of years, and a little knowledge would do. She was struggling to remember why she had disliked him so much when they first met. Oh, right. There was some jealousy there, since Mister Zelgadis had taken to him unusually quick. But, that hadn't been fair of her at all. That wasn't Mister Miwan's fault.

The palace grounds themselves were brightly lit, with a surprising amount off greenery, and the ever-present fountains and decorative tile and stonework. Even after sunlight, Amelia still saw servants and officials afoot, walking between the buildings and along the covered arched hallways. She and Mister Zelgadis were being led to the main building, to one side of the gate they had entered in.

"It'll just be a quiet dinner tonight with the advisory council and His Majesty," High Priest Calande said. "We can arrange attendance at more events later. Truthfully, the winters are more social around here. During the summers, most people are out working late. There's a bit more activity here than normal, because of the upcoming eclipse, but things are still pretty quiet."

"That's all right," Amelia said. "This is mostly a business trip."

The high priest nodded, looking grave. "I know. I can tell you this: in no way would the Temple in Jarei endorse using our priests to spy on people. Let alone as saboteurs. Was anyone hurt?"

"Mister Zelgadis was stunned a bit during her capture, and a local woman broke her leg from a weakened fence," Amelia answered.

"I'll be sure to have the Temple send something along for her," the high priest answered.

"Thank you," Amelia said. "I'm sure Missus Galatei will appreciate it. Though, I'd rather have assurances that none of our other priests or sorcerers are going to turn against us. As you can imagine, they're critical to the success of the Southern Reclamation Project."

"Of course, Princess." They walked up several shallow steps, and into the main building. Amelia let her eyes adjust to the change in light. Here, unlike the cool light of magic outside, the walls were warmly lit with oil lamps set in braziers sporadically. The smell of incense was in the air, faintly. As they walked along the long entry hallway, passing the occasional guard, or hurrying palace servant, Amelia studied the walls, which seemed to be covered with murals depicting local history. They turned left, then, through an open arch, and started going through a series of narrower halls, ones that Amelia quickly lost track of. She looked at Mister Zelgadis, who looked alert. He might be able to recall the way out if they were pressed, and for that, she was thankful.

The room they finally entered was small for a dining hall. A single table filled it, with the sideboard against the opposite wall they entered. Another door, off to the left, had servants carrying various cutlery and serving trays, so it probably lead to a kitchen or at least a dumbwaiter and a place to keep supplies. Four people rose as they entered. The man at the head of the table remained seated. Judging from his position, and the coronet on his head, he must be King Kavei. He looked younger than Amelia had expected, despite knowing that he was about her age; maybe because he hadn't bothered to grow a beard like a lot of young men who wanted to appear older did. "Good evening, Princess Amelia," he said. "Would you care for a round of introductions before we begin eating?"

"Good evening, your Majesty." Amelia replied. "Yes, I would like introductions."

"Very well." High Priest Calande took her place at the table. The king himself stood, perhaps so he could point better. He wasn't a unhandsome man, though Amelia thought he looked a bit shorter and, well, scrawnier, in person than he looked in the few portraits she had seen. The cut of his clothing did a lot to hide that. Sitting down, he looked just like a normal, thin person. Only when he moved did Amelia get the sense that he was no outdoors man, adventurer or swordsman. "The person to my left is Archmage Nasim Awel, whom I believe you met some months ago." Amelia remembered the old mage, wearing a fancier version of his Guild robes. "To his left is General Jessa tab Siraba, the leader of our army." Here was a very tall woman, her brown hair bound back in a tight twist, and wearing a military uniform. "Next to her is Master Simin tab Dareiba, the head of our Merchants' Guild." Here was a woman, probably in her forties, though Amelia couldn't tell, dressed in blues. Her hair was so fair that Amelia wasn't certain that it hadn't just gone white prematurely. Amelia couldn't see her eyes, as she was wearing a set of the dark eyeglasses that she had seen on some of the guards at the gate. "On the other side, is Duke Gazi sim Shanin, representing the nobles." This was an elderly, balding man with a solid, roundish build, the sort Amelia saw on the kind of nobles who had lived active lives before age finally caught up with them. His eyes were bright, still, and he gave her and Mister Zelgadis a calculating look. "And I believe you've met High Priest Calande, that's right?"

"That's right," Amelia agreed. "This is Mister Zelgadis Graywords, a friend of mine, and of Saillune." Mister Zelgadis stepped forward, into the room itself.

"You're a bold man to wear a sword in the presence of a king, Mister Graywords." King Kavei said.

"I'm also a sorcerer. Taking off my sword would leave me no less armed and dangerous. At least this way, I'm being open about what I can do," Mister Zelgadis said.

King Kavei paused for a moment, and Amelia was about ready to cut in, when the king smiled. "Very clever, as well. I see why Her Highness puts no small trust in you. Shall we sit down, then?"

"Of course," Amelia said. She frowned. One free seat was near the king's right hand, presumably for her, but the other was near the foot of the table, separated by the duke. It was proper dinner guest procedure, if you wanted different people to talk to one another, rather than to be surrounded by the familiar, but it was a bit unnerving in a potentially hostile situation. She glanced at Mister Zelgadis, to see how he'd take it, and wondered if she should be contrary and take the seat near the foot. On the other hand, that put Mister Zelgadis near Archmage Awel, who she remembered he didn't like. iOh, for crying out loud, this is a dinner party, not a battle plan/i, she thought, even if some dinner parties certainly felt like battles of wits and decorum. She nodded to Mister Zelgadis, and took her place near the head of the table.

So, now she was seated with the king on her left, the duke on her right, and the archmage across from her. The servants were bringing out the soup. Inwardly she thanked whatever benevolent forces that were listening that she had Mister Zelgadis with her, and not Miss Lina and Mister Gourry. While part of her suspected that the two of them normally ate like a pack of ravenous wild dogs was a personal choice and not a matter of etiquette (or lack thereof) - Miss Lina did pride herself on being somewhat refined and dainty, and Mister Gourry listened to her - she wasn't willing to trust they could behave for long periods and many meals. They didn't bother in Saillune, after all. Mister Zelgadis, on the other hand, ate like a bird.

Amelia delicately sipped her soup, which was some kind of lentil soup, with a bit of garlic and pepper, and very tasty. It was a bit spicy, but she was starting to think all Jarei food was a bit liberal with the pepper.

"How is Saillune in this season, Your Highness," Nasim Awel asked.

"I've spent most of the past weeks in the south," she replied, "so I imagine it's a lot like it's been in Jarei. There have been some storms, but for the most part it's been very hot."

"You don't like the heat?"

"Well, for the most part, I'm not used to it. It's a bit cooler and a lot wetter near the capital," she replied.

Most of the conversation during the meal consisted of things like that. Yes, her father was fine, and tremendously healthy. Tremendous was always a safe word to use with Daddy, as he was one of those people who could overwhelm anyone through his personality without even realizing he had done it. Her Uncle Christopher was well as well, and Grandpa was, if not well, then not getting any worse. There were of course, the obligatory expressions of concern for the health of the King of Saillune. Amelia was used to them, as Grandpa had been not quite well for years, and had left most of the work of the kingdom to his sons.

The soup was finished, and the salad, some kind of grainy dish, was brought out. Amelia tried not to pick at it as she took some in her spoon and raised the first bite to her lips. She could identify tomatoes and cucumbers in it, but wasn't sure what all the leaves in it were, nor the contents of the dressing. She took a bite, and nearly winced as she bit into a bit of onion. She chewed as quickly as was polite, took a sip of water to wash out the sharp taste, and took another bite, avoiding the onions this time. iIt could be worse/i, Amelia thought. iIt's just a raw onion - a bit shocking, but not bad. It's not like it's something really horrible, like fried cockroaches or something/i. She looked over to Mister Zelgadis, who didn't seem to be having this problem.

"And how is your sister doing?" Archmage Awel asked her.

Amelia nearly choked on her grainy salad. "Who, Gracia? She's still out training, last I heard. She's very... very self-involved in things. Horrible about writing home." The truth was, while her father still expected Gracia to come back any week now, ready to settle down, Uncle Christopher had asked her to plan as if something had happened to her sister, or her sister had just decided to abdicate. Gracia's letters at least showed she was still alive, but she showed no interest in coming home.

"Ah," Archmage Awel said. "That's a bit unusual, isn't it?"

"I suppose so, but it does seem to be a family tradition to travel a lot when we're young," Amelia said. "That's where Da- my father met my mother, on his travels as a young man. And I traveled a bit, as you might recall."

"With Lina Inverse, as the stories say," the king spoke up.

"That's correct."

"Is she really as fearsome as the rumors say?"

"Well..." Amelia paused. "Some of them are kind of exaggerated. Like, I wouldn't say she's the 'enemy of all who live'. Miss Lina does have a bit of a violent temper, and she eats a lot, especially when she's not paying for it, and she sometimes doesn't know her own strength with her magic. But, she's got a good heart. Mostly."

"I see. And you met Mister Graywords there as well," the king continued.

Amelia nodded. "Mister Zelgadis was an old friend of Miss Lina's and Mister Gourry's - Mister Gourry is Miss Lina's bodyguard and traveling companion. The three of them had a bounty put on their heads a while back, around when I first met Miss Lina, and we ran into him when trying to figure out who had done it. It's kind of a long story how that happened, though."

The king and the archmage exchanged a look - what it meant, Amelia wasn't terribly sure.

"So, are you and he...?" Archmage Awel trailed off, but not before she got the message.

Amelia flushed a bit. "No, we're good friends," she said quickly with a glance at Mister Zelgadis, who looked thoroughly absorbed in removing the last bits of his salad from the bowl, and ignoring General Siraba's attempts to speak to him.

"It's quite unusual for royalty to be dragging their friends around on diplomatic missions," the king commented.

"Well, I thought he would be helpful for advice when I was in the south," Amelia said. "As a specialist, you know. Mister Zelgadis has also worked as my bodyguard in the past, so he was a natural choice to accompany me here. And he tells me he's been to Jarei before on his own."

"I see," the king said. "I could imagine that he would be useful in your project in the south."

"Oh, let's not talk about business over dinner," Archmage Awel said. "Especially after Her Highness and Mister Graywords have been traveling since dawn. They'll be plenty of time for that tomorrow. Don't you agree, Duke Shanin?"

The Duke had been listening to General Siraba's telling of some type of battle. To Amelia's delight, Mister Zelgadis actually seemed involved in that conversation. Well, involved for him and talking to strangers, which meant asking the occasional question and making eye contact. "Pardon?"

"I said, let's talk business tomorrow. It is far too nice a night, and far too nice a meal, to ruin it with politics."

"I always said you didn't have the stomach for politics, Nasim," the duke replied. "If His Majesty and the princess want to get things done quickly, then they shouldn't let the meal get in the way of it. Oh, wonderful. The meal's here." Amelia glanced at the duke's wine glass. While the servants had been surreptitiously filling glasses as the meal progressed, Duke Shanin hadn't seemed to have drunk a lot. Perhaps he was just naturally this blunt. Some nobles were, after all, especially to people outside of the nobility.

"Let's at least leave the politics talk for after that, then," Archmage Awel said. "If you must talk politics, it's best to do it after the meal."

Duke Shanin shook his head, as if impatient about the argument. Amelia saw King Kavei catch her eye and shrug a bit. Apparently this was a long-standing disagreement between the two, with this particular meal as only a small part of it.

The dinner looked lovely, and smelled even better. Skewers of some kind of meat with vegetables and mushrooms, over flat bread, it made Amelia's mouth water. Apparently there wasn't a fish course here, or the dinner wasn't formal enough to justify one, or else the presence of the city so far from the ocean made fish a luxury even for royals. Not that Amelia minded. Fish creeped her out unless they were prepared in ways that she didn't have to think about them alive as she ate.

She studied her plate for a moment, trying to figure out the best away to eat things. Somehow, the campfire technique of grabbing one end and chowing down probably would not work.

"Take the fork and use that to remove the meat from the skewers."

Amelia looked a bit startled over at the young King, who was busy doing exactly what he had just suggested to her, like he hadn't spoken at all. She flushed a bit, embarrassed to have been caught, then nodded and started eating. It tasted even better than it smelled/ The meat was incredibly tender and, for once, spiced just the right amount for her palate. She took a bite of mushroom next, and found that the juices from the meat had soaked into the mushroom just enough to flavor it. She swallowed. "This is wonderful. My compliments to the chef."

"I'll be sure to pass that on, Your Highness." King Kavei said.

The room filled with the sounds of silverware. Despite Duke Shanin's statements about politics, the dinner was just too good to speak about ianything/i during it. It wasn't a matter of a lack of stomach for politics during dinner, but a desire to not want to leave one's dinner to cool long enough to elaborate on much of anything. It wasn't until dessert came - a flaky pastry covered in nuts and honey, served with coffee and tea - that the conversation stuck up again. Amelia didn't say much - she was already feeling a bit full and lethargic. Unfortunately it meant she was mostly too full to pay much attention to what was being said. iI hope Mister Zelgadis is a bit more observant. Next time we eat out, I must remember to not eat so much./i

hr

There was another nice thing about bandits, Gourry thought. They had lots of stuff that looked a lot like mercenary stuff. His armor, made of black dragon scales and fitted to him perfectly, was a little too nice for a merc. Well, maybe a really successful one, which was how he got it in the first place, but guys like that usually had a company and wouldn't be wandering around Telmoord at this time of year. His sword was certainly too nice, and he didn't even have the Sword of Light any more. But, the bandits he and Lina had raided had plenty of cheap leather armor, including some that fit him well enough.

He also grabbed a bastard sword - the balance was a bit off, and it was a bit longer than he really liked in swords, and the metal was really cheap, and the previous owner couldn't sharpen a pocket knife. Lina had given him one of her looks when he had said all this. Why bother about a sword you're only having for the look of the thing. But, you never knew when you might need a good sword, even if this one was not a good sword. But, it was a lot better than going unarmed, and it worked real well at this sneaky stuff.

Gourry had figured out the best way to do all this sneaky stuff, and that was to let people make up their own minds about things. See, he wasn't very good at convincing people of things, besides that he was a good swordsman and kind of dim otherwise, but people were really good at making up their own minds about things without him having to open his mouth at all. Plus, he had Lina with him, who was good at the talking, as long as you didn't mention her breasts or her magic. Then she was still good at talking, but not so much in a way that would convince people that she wasn't a scary sorceress.

"This armor smells like the bottom of the laundry bag," Lina said. "Stupid bandits - you'd think they could keep their armor clean." She was scrubbing at the leather with some saddle soap.

"They weren't very good bandits," Gourry said. "But, they did have armor that fits you, kind of." It was kind of surprising, actually. Lina was pretty small for a woman, and most bandits were male. Probably the fact they weren't very nice to women kept a lot of women from being bandits, or maybe they had their own all-women bandit gangs or something. But, it worked out pretty well. A lot of what made people think Lina was the Dra-mata Bandit Killer Enemy of All Who Live Genius Sorceress Lina Inverse was the fact that Lina had the cape, and the magic jewelry, and didn't wear any armor, as well as having bright red hair and looking like she was really ten, and being scary and fireball-throwing when she was angry. So, having a merc lady who you couldn't tell how big her chest was beneath the armor and her hair tied back and looking tough and scary because most women mercs tried to look as tough as they could around strange men, just in case they needed to kick them, would be a good cover for Lina. Well, as long as she left her talismans in her bag, and didn't start flinging around spells. "Do you want some kind of sword?"

"Yes," Lina said. He handed her the nicest short sword they had gotten. Lina wasn't bad with a sword and this one was enough like the one she normally wore that if they needed to fight, she wouldn't run into trouble. Not that Lina couldn't throw a nasty punch and she had a killer kick to the groin, so Gourry was more worried of her forgetting her cover if they got into a fight than her needing much help. Maybe they should have waited until 'that time of the month' to try this, when Lina wouldn't throw around magic. Then again, if they ended up in a fight so bad that Lina forgot she wasn't supposed to be a sorceress, they probably would have blown their cover.

Well, unless someone tried to grope Lina, but the armor would stop that.

"Does the armor fit all right?" Gourry asked. "Let me see, Lina."

"Sure," Lina stood up, turning around slowly. "How's this look, Gourry?"

"Let me adjust the straps." Which should be enough warning for her that he was going to put his hands near her chest, so that she wouldn't fireball him. She held still, and he noticed she was kind of red, and she shifted from foot to foot, so he did it quickly and efficiently.

"Thanks, Gourry," she said, and he nodded at her. "Hey wait... hold still for a moment." She moved behind him, and he turned his head to try to follow here.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

She had grabbed his hair. "I figured that your hair is pretty recognizable, Gourry."

"I'm not changing my hair, Lina."

"Well, I'm tucking mine under a bandana. We can at least pull yours back." He could tell she was grinning at him. "I'll be gentle, I promise."

"Well, fine," Gourry said. "Just no ribbons or anything. I'm supposed to be a mercenary."

Lina laughed. "I know that." It didn't take her long to do whatever it was she was doing to his hair, then to braid her own hair and coil it under the scarf she had bought. Between that, the red pants and a blue and white shirt, she didn't look much like her normal self.

Lina was careful to lock the room behind her when they left, and leave one of her booby traps attached to the door. Gourry made a note to not touch the door when they got back. Hopefully he wouldn't forget that: Lina's booby traps usually weren't lethal, but they hurt like hell. Sure, she'd probably heal him, but that wasn't the point. Gourry noticed that she had left her talismans in her belt pouch. Considering they were apparently pretty powerful magic thingees, he figured it was because she ireally/i didn't want anyone to steal them.

He lead them through a maze of streets in Telmoord, to get away from the nicer part of town where they had gotten an inn room. If someone was following them, this would lose them. The mercenary bars were in the seedy part of town, where things that the city didn't really want to admit happened happened. There the streets were tiny, and the lights were mostly smashed, and, if they didn't look like trouble, they probably would be in trouble from people who did look like trouble.

The first bar had the strange name of The Frothing Otter, and it had a drawing of a mug of beer and what Gourry thought had to be an otter, though he wasn't terribly sure what one looked like, and he didn't think the sign painter knew that well either. It sounded crowded, which was good, since there'd be lots of people talking. He might even know someone in there, though it had been a long time. Especially for a merc; most of the old timers became sergeants or officers, or retired, or got cushy guard jobs, or died.

The bar looked like a bar. There really wasn't much he could say about it, besides that it was kinda clean, considering it had been a long day, and it was full of mercenaries. There were a couple of barmaids serving drinks, and the bartender. Gourry also guessed a few of the 'mercenaries' were probably getting paid by the owner to toss out any trouble makers if they got to the furniture-breaking stage. Furniture was expensive.

He walked up to the bar. "What'll it be?" the bartender asked.

"I'll have a beer," Gourry said. He looked at Lina, who had followed him to the bar, and was looking tough.

"Whisky and water," she said.

The bartender nodded, and quickly got them their drinks, and Lina paid, while complaining about the price. They had plenty of money, but Lina had said earlier that pretending to be poor might help explain why they were asking about jobs. Plus, Lina liked complaining about money - at least, she did it a lot, even when they weren't poor at all, and it was something kind of cheap, like a midnight snack. Gourry took a drink of his beer. He didn't like most kinds of beer all that much, anyway, but this wasn't even that good for beer and it tasted watered down. It might well be. If he looked poor and not likely to hang around, the bartender might have taken his chances that he just wanted to get drunk, and didn't care what he was drinking.

"Wow, you two look fresh off the march," the other person seated at the bar said. Gourry sized her up. It was hard to tell, since she was balanced on the bar stool, but she looked tall for a woman. Her voice was friendly, and had a bit of a northern accent. She was wearing a short-sleeved maroon tunic, and he could see the muscles on her arm stand out. Not as much as a guy's would, but enough to convince him she was probably a seasoned veteran, used to running around in armor and fighting with a sword. Her blonde hair was braided out of her face. She had what looked like a cheap dinner: a bowl of stew and some bread, in a decent-sized portion.

"Yeah," he said.

"Our company disbanded two weeks ago," Lina said. Her voice sounded a bit different than usual. Gourry wondered if it was part of her act, or maybe just the booze. "My partner and I caught rides to here, and were hoping to join up with another company." Between Lina picking his brains about mercenaries, and her own observations, she wasn't too bad at faking it.

The woman shook her head. "It's too late in the season. Most good companies aren't hiring right now. They're either in the middle of campaigns, or looking for guard work to tide them over until the winter. You're better off just freelancing the guard work until late winter or spring. Especially if you two want to find work in the same company. Most of them tend to pick a weapon, so at least one of you will have to learn a new one."

"I'm fine with short swords," Gourry said, which was true enough, even if he was just used to having something with a bit more reach. "What about you?"

"Me?" the woman asked. "Well, I was working for the Fox's company - that's Felan's Fighters - but he and my sergeant recommended me for possible knight training. He knows someone in Saillune City that I'm supposed to speak to. I'm doing caravan work until I get there. I heard bandits were in the area, but I also heard Lina Inverse the Bandit Killer was too, so things might be quiet."

Gourry tried not to look at Lina. He hoped she'd keep quiet and not try to find out more about those rumors. Maybe she would, because it wasn't like this woman was insulting her. 'Bandit killer' wasn't even a bad nickname for Lina. It might not be 'genius sorceress', but it wasn't 'dra-mata'. "Saillune's a pretty nice city," he said. He saw Lina give him a warning glance, but he wasn't going to say anything about Amelia or anything. iGive me some credit, Lina, I know mentioning Amelia would be bad./i

"That's good. I've never been there. I grew up north, near the mountains." She paused. "You can call me Enarra. My real name's longer, but no one but my family can ever pronounce it right."

"I'm Mina, and that's Gerry," Lina said.

"Nice to meet you," Enarra replied. "You're from up north too, aren't you, Mina?"

Lina nodded. "Zephilia. Haven't quite gotten rid of the accent yet." Which was a lie, Lina normally spoke without much of an accent at all, which put her close to sounding like she was from Saillune, but could be from anywhere from Sairaag to west Elemekia if you weren't paying attention. It's just she was pretty good at hiding the one she had, unless she was drunk or trying to trick people. Gourry wasn't even sure if he had an accent himself. At least, he never thought he had one, but he had never asked anyone (that he remembered). No, wait, he had once asked Zelgadis, who had told him not to worry about it so much, probably because they were in the Outer World at the time and all sounded pretty foreign. Or maybe it was a magic user thing - Amelia, Zelgadis, and Pocota didn't have much of an accent either, and Sylphiel only had a slight Sairaag accent, but not when she was casting spells. Filia, though, spoke all weird. Maybe because she was a dragon, or maybe just because she was from the Outer World. How did golden dragons talk, anyway? Well, if they were disguised as humans, probably the normal way, but really, they weren't.

Lina was saying something, and Enarra answered, and Gourry realized he probably should be paying attention. "... so we wanted to know who to avoid," Lina was saying. "Things were pretty bad before we left, and I don't want to get the kind of reputation that follows us around."

"I can understand that. There are a lot of shady companies out there." Enarra said.

"Thing is, Gerry and I were hired out east, near the Elemekian border," Lina continued to speak. "We don't know most of the companies in the area. I couldn't tell you if any of them would be barely better than bandits, unless they got really bad."

"Ah, got it." Enarra nodded. "Well, the two you need to watch out for are Becker's Brigade and Russell's Rangers. There's a few more that aren't so good with the pay, or have bad support. I wouldn't sign with Hawkins's Hawks or... oh, I can never remember the name - Pollard's something. At least not for more than a short contract. I don't like passing on tales like that, but..." she shrugged, "people talk. You can ask other people here if you don't believe me."

"We were planning on it," Gourry said.

"Here, let me buy you a drink," Lina offered.

Gourry tried not to look surprised, "But...," he said, feeling pleased he remembered Lina was under cover, so he couldn't use her name, even if he'd already forgotten which fake name she was using, "you were just complaining about how we don't have any money."

"The lady helped us out, iGerry/i," she said his fake name in the iexact/i way she normally said 'Jellyfish Brains', "so we need to thank her."

"Nah, you don't have to do that," Enarra said. "I know what it's like to be dirt poor when I'm between jobs. I'm on second watch for the caravan tonight, so I can't have more than this, anyway." She tapped her glass for emphasis. "Thank you, though. If I see you in Saillune City sometime, remember you offered." She grinned at Lina.

"You're welcome," Lina replied. "And, yeah, if we see you in Saillune City, remind me and I'll buy you that drink."

After they walked away, Gourry whispered, "You mean, you'll have Amelia buy her that drink, don't you?"

"Shove it, Jellyfish Brains. Not here."

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bAuthor's Note/b

Some of the mercenary names are references to various things (the Schlock Mercenary webcomic, some books), and the mercenary Lina and Gourry meet in the bar is a thinly veiled Expy of the lead character in emThe Deed of Paksenarrion/em by Elizabeth Moon. Mostly because I enjoyed that book and needed a stock mercenary for Lina and Gourry to meet at the bar.

All of the Jarei characters are original, though.


	3. Chapter 3

Despite Amelia's best efforts, they had been out late that last night. And Amelia was one of those utter rarities, a morning person. Zelgadis had observed when camping, she slept like a log when not distracted by Lina, or watch duty, or having every mazoku in the known world gunning for their blood by association with Lina Inverse. As a result, she slept well and was bright-eyed and busy-tailed in the morning, a feat Zelgadis could only come within sight of after at least a cup of coffee or tea. Breakfast was a quiet affair. Apparently most of the priests and knights and shrine maidens had risen at dawn. By the time Zelgadis and Amelia had woken up, at the early time of seven in the morning, the kitchen was mostly clear. Breakfast was also pretty simple, with tea and fresh bread. While Lina would have been impressed with the spread of last night's 'simple, informal dinner', she would be wondering where all the eggs and sausages and pancakes and who knows what else were at breakfast.

It suited Zelgadis just fine. The bread was pretty damn good, and the tea was strong enough that he didn't mind not having coffee. "What are you doing today, Mister Zelgadis?" Amelia asked, taking some of the butter from the dish on the table and spreading it onto her bread.

"Probably going to check out the town," Zelgadis answered, drinking his tea. "We didn't get much of a look at it yesterday."

"I'm surprised," Amelia said. "I thought you hated cities."

"I do. But, if I'm going to be here for a while, I don't want to be caught off-guard by the city. Whether I hate it or not, I need to know it."

Amelia nodded. "That makes sense."

"What about you?" he asked, brushing the crumbs from his cloak. That was the one bad thing about bread, he noted - when it was crunchy, it tended to get everywhere.

"Mostly meetings. First with the king, then his advisors. All of them will probably tell me they didn't order Miss Sholei to sabotage the mill and the water stones."

"At least the king's probably innocent," Zelgadis said.

"How so?" Amelia asked.

"If he wasn't interested in appeasing Saillune, he would have stopped you at the border. Maybe given you some underling of his as a sacrificial lamb if he wanted to not cause an incident."

"That's horrible," Amelia said. But, she was nodding - she understood the idea. "He must be losing a lot of face with people letting us in here to investigate."

"Hmm?" Zelgadis said, having just taken a bite of breakfast.

"Well, I know if I let Missus Martina into the country if someone from Saillune caused a problem in Xoana, half of the nobles would be calling for my head."

Zelgadis shrugged. "More than half - it _is_ Martina, after all. When they were handing out sanity and common sense, she was out picking out her god."

Amelia put her hand over her mouth, trying not to giggle. "That's mean, Mister Zelgadis," she managed to get out.

"But not untrue."

Breakfast finished, the two parted ways at the temple courtyard, with Miwan showing Amelia back to the palace, and Zelgadis finding his own way. His first stop was a shop near the Temple, where he picked up a pair of smoked glass eyeglasses, like those he had seen Master Dareiba in last night. From what the shopkeeper told him, they were common out in the desert, where, between the sun and the glare off the rocks and sand, one could go blind. They also helped hide his eyes, or at least the stony ridges around his eyes. With the hood of his cloak up, and cloth covering the lower half of his face, and the new glasses, he looked like he had just come in from the desert or just someone who didn't want to be recognized. But, more importantly, he did not look like a chimera, let alone the foreign one that came in with the princess of Saillune. He couldn't do much about his accent, but it wasn't like a generic 'traveler's accent' was going to be that out of place anywhere on the Subcontinent. He also had to leave his sword hanging up in his room. It was too recognizable, and would be just a heavy, leather-covered stick while peace-bonded. If he was trying to blend in, a dagger would be better, anyway. And it wasn't like anything short of magic, or heavy gunpowder weapons, most of which were still curiosities in this part of the world, could hurt him.

He wasn't sure exactly where he was going at first, besides that he was staying away from the main thoroughfares, and sticking to the alleys and back ways. To the poorer parts of town, certainly, where the travelers, adventure seekers, and the criminal element lurked. The question was, where was that? The older parts of the city, that weren't taken up with the nice homes of the rich and the public buildings. Maybe downstream, after the various detritus from the city had all ended up in the river. Zelgadis wasn't sure how good the drainage was in Jarei. A few places had aqueducts for the nicer parts of town, and muck wagons that carted away human waste. The poor probably didn't have access to those, and just depended on disposing of things where it wasn't too smelly, and trying not to foul their own water supplies.

His walking was seeming to pay off. The lampposts, unlit in the daytime, grew farther and farther apart, eventually vanishing. The houses got more and more close together, and a bit more shabby, needing paint, and made more of canvas than of stone and brick. The streets switched from cobble stone to packed dirt. The crowds kept up the pace, and Zelgadis struggled a bit to keep towards the edge of the street. He was glad he had tucked his belt pouch and dagger into an inner pocket of his cloak, rather than leaving them on his belt, where any pick pocket or cut purse could help himself.

He wasn't sure what clued him in that he was being tailed. Perhaps someone in the crowd looked a bit too clean to be part of the unwashed masses of humanity he was observing, or wasn't urgently heading on some errand or another. Maybe it was just his sixth sense. But, once he knew who to look for, it was unmistakable. Two men, both dressed a lot like a working class laborer, but in clothing that looked nearly new, and keeping an eye on him while trying to blend in.

_I better try to lose them_, Zelgadis thought. That would be difficult, since he couldn't ditch his disguise without becoming even easier to track. He could try to make his way to a gate, where travelers would be coming in, and lose them there. He started moving at a quick, purposeful walk, dodging through the crowds, and heading in the direction of what he hoped was the city walls. He could follow those to the nearest gate. To his faint satisfaction, he saw his tails change course to follow him. Good, his instincts had been correct. But he couldn't assume those two were the only ones. As he moved, he kept looking around, trying to spot another following face. He also made sure to check the airspace. In this mess of people, he wouldn't put it past someone to take to the rooftops, especially if he had the advantage of magic. And, he couldn't assume that whoever had hired these two couldn't afford a magic user.

The crowd was starting to thicken, with more animals being led. He could see the wall over the rooftops when he looked up. Good, he was close. It was harder moving through the crowd, and Zelgadis had to fight his supreme dislike of crowds. He looked around and, not seeing his tails, ducked into the next alleyway for a breather. Goddammit, he really hated crowds. He put a hand to his scarf, intending to lower it and take a drink from his canteen. It couldn't be more than an hour after breakfast, and the day was already too hot, especially with his cloak on.

"Hey, you!"

Zelgadis stopped trying to adjust his cloak, and brought his hand down to where he had concealed his dagger. "Yes?"

"You bumped me."

Zelgadis turned to look at the speaker. He looked like he was fresh off the desert, with the loose, light-colored clothing he had seen a lot of the other travelers wearing. He also had two friends, and a set of knives. "I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." Better to just smooth things over, than to get held up by some punk with compensation issues.

"You don't sound sorry," the man said. "But you will be." He and his friends started advancing on Zelgadis.

"I don't have time for this," Zelgadis said. He looked down the alley, which was unfortunate enough to be a dead end, with some type of crates stacked against either side. It left fight or flight as the only option. Zelgadis decided he was going to be the bigger man about this. "_Ray wing_." He took off, letting himself rise to the rooftops.

"No fair using magic!" The punk threw his knife at Zelgadis, who didn't bother dodging it.

Not to his surprise, he felt the knife strike his leg, about where his pant leg met his boot. To his surprise, he felt not a dull thud and a slight pain of a projectile, but the sharp bite of a cut. _What... I better get out of here_.

"Hey, you!"

_Oh, not again_, This time the person waving at him was standing on the town wall and looked pretty official - he had a breastplate, a sword, and a badge. "Yes?" he asked.

"City law prohibits flying above the level of the rooftops. Come over here."

If he was alone, he'd be tempted to not listen, and just take off and not expect the officer to be able to follow him. But, he was with Amelia, and he'd not only have to deal with suddenly being unwelcome in the city, but also a lecture or two: one about not annoying legitimate officers of the law without cause, and another about making her job just a bit more difficult. Sighing, he flew over to the wall, landing near the officer.

"Hands away from your body and up," he said. "Don't touch your cloak." He motioned to another guard, this one with a crossbow trained on him.

"Wait just a moment. What the hell is going on here?" After the scare with the knife, Zelgadis decided not to take any chances that the crossbow wouldn't hurt him. He raised his hands.

"You're under arrest. There is a fine involved, but we're going to need to escort you to the nearest guard outpost as well." The guard dropped his eyes to Zelgadis's feet, where the hem of his pants was starting to develop a red stain. "We also can treat that cut on your leg, there. Some of the desert rangers aren't too good at cleaning their knives." As if he needed any more problems.

"Hold on. I'm a diplomat," Zelgadis said. He never thought he'd get to use that excuse. "I'm with the princess of Saillune."

"If you're with the Saillune group, what are you doing in this part of town?" the guard said.

"Looking around."

"Regardless, Mister Diplomat, we're going to have to ask you to take off your cloak and give us that knife, and come with us. If you are who you say you are, we'll send a message to the palace, and someone can come claim you." The guard spoke to him very slowly, like he was stupid.

Zelgadis sighed. Amelia owed him for this. And he was going to make sure she knew about it. "All right. I'm going to bend down and set the knife on the ground, all right?" He did so, then slid it across the stones to the guard. "Now I'm going to take off my cloak." He pushed back his hood first, and he he heard a sharp intake of breath from the guard with the crossbow. The guard speaking to him held up his hand, and, with the other, motioned more guards over to cover him. _Of course. Now I've upped the threat level from possibly crazy foreign sorcerer to_ monstrous _possibly crazy foreign sorcerer._

"What..." the guard stared at his face.

"No, I'm not human," Zelgadis said, doing little to hide the irritation in his voice. He watched the guards with crossbows. At least things weren't looking like they were going to get any worse. And he was off the street . He could deal with four people staring at him. A whole crowd would just be too much.

"And why would the Princess of Saillune employ some demonic creature, Mister Diplomat?" He turned to one of the crossbow holding guards, and said, "get a magic user. Just in case."

"First off, I'm not a demon. I'm part human. Second off, why don't you ask _her_? Third, if I wasn't working for her, would I be really stupid enough to try to use that as an excuse instead of, I don't know, picking something that you might actually believe?"

"She could secretly be an evil sorceress," one of the crossbow guards suggested. "I've heard stuff about Saillune. One of their princes was killed by mazoku when he tried to use them to kill the rest of the royal family. And they're flooding their south with monsters. On purpose."

_And Amelia didn't think her gesture of goodwill would come back to haunt her,_ Zelgadis thought. He also had to note the delightful irony that for once he hadn't done anything worth arresting for, and it was now that he ran into trouble with the law. _That pretty much sums up how my life goes_.

The guard sorcerer had finally got there. At least, Zelgadis thought she was with the guards, since she had the same badge sewn to her robes. And she, at least, was allowed to fly. "Someone take his arms. I'll put a magic suppressing spell on him and we'll escort him to the guard post."

"Sounds good," the head guard said. "You heard her," he motioned to two of the crossbow wielding guards, "drop those and grab the prisoner's hands."

The guards looked about as eager to take his arms as he was to let them. He debated jumping off the wall and running, but he'd just be pursued by the sorceress. Plus, it wasn't like he could hide now. There was no question about it. Amelia would owe him big for cooperating. They took his arms like they were more concerned with trying to be ready to bolt if he did get violent than in restraining him from attacking the sorceress. _The Pride and Joy of the Jarei Civil Service_, Zelgadis thought. _Only good at one thing, and not good enough at it for the army._

The sorceress, at least, didn't seem afraid of him. She placed her hand on his forehead. "_Flow Break_." Zelgadis felt the spell go off, then... nothing. "I'll lift the spell when we release you."

"Great." _Just great. This is exactly how my day is going. This is the last time I bother to listen to the law. What a hassle. _

The guard post was built into the wall, so the group walked along the wall for most of the way. Which suited Zelgadis just fine. He spent the time counting how many times he could have broken away even without magic, and with the sorceress levitating beside him. He was up to five when they got to the stairs near the gate and descended... three more chances. He was escorted into the guard post. "Sit down," the head guard motioned to a single chair in one of the back rooms. "Suma, you go send a runner to the palace and find someone who knows who Saillune brought into the city."

After the subordinate left, Zelgadis found himself answering the same questions over and over. His name was Zelgadis Graywords. Yes, he was with Princess Amelia. No, he didn't see the need to answer any other questions, and was quiet content to get into a staring contest with the guard. Someone did bring bandages in, and the guard allowed the medic to roll up his pants leg, apply some stinging, nasty-smelling herbal ointment, and a bandage. Zelgadis decided that as soon as he got his magic back, he was using a small healing spell to heal the cut. These non-magic folk remedies just didn't compare.

He wasn't sure how long this mess lasted, but he could hear the sounds of a shift change. He was also starting to get hungry, but decided that asking his jailer for a sandwich would probably not get a response.

He was about willing to rush the jailer and go find some lunch when the door opened. The sorceress re-entered with someone Zelgadis recognized: the old Archmage, Nasim Awel. At least it was a familiar face, but Zelgadis remembered the man didn't like him, or chimera, much. Archmage Awel looked at him. "Yes, that's Mister Graywords," he said.

"So he really is a diplomat?" the head guard asked.

"He's with the Princess Amelia, at least," Archmage Awel frowned. "I don't know if I'd call him a diplomat."

"You can call me the Flare Dragon's left pinky if it means I'll get out of here," Zelgadis said. "If we're all quite sure it was all just a misunderstanding, then I'd like my magic, cloak and dagger back, and I'd like to leave."

"Of course, Mister Graywords." The sorceress again put her hand to his forehead, and said a spell Zelgadis didn't recognize. While she was doing this, the head guard had gone into the other room, and returned, handing Zel his cloak and dagger. Zelgadis put the cloak back on, tucking the dagger back into its sheathe in the front pocket, and putting the smoked glass eyeglasses away.

"Mind telling me what you were up to this morning, Mister Graywords?" Archmage Awel asked as they walked back to the more civilized parts of town, by distressingly main roads.

"I was walking around town," Zelgadis answered. "I ran into some punk, and was cornered in an alley. I decided it would be better to avoid an incident."

"And you did that by a flight spell?"

"The alley was blocked." Zelgadis shrugged.

"Perhaps it would be best if you avoided magic without checking with a local first," Archmade Awel said. He sounded annoyingly smug.

"Why _is_ it illegal anyway?" Zelgadis asked. "I've never heard of a rule like that."

"You weren't here for the Flying Carpet Incident of Nine Twenty-Three. After that, it seemed prudent to limit air traffic."

They walked for a while in silence, before Archmage Awel spoke again. "Mister Graywords, would you mind answering a personal question?"

"Yes," Zelgadis said. "Yes, I would mind. But you'll probably ask me anyway."

"Indeed. I just wanted to know what your relationship with the Princess Amelia was."

"We're friends," Zelgadis said. "I thought this was clear."

"Well, it does seem unusual for the Princess to bring a friend on a diplomatic mission."

"Well, the last diplomatic mission she was on, she very nearly ended up a hostage, and was rescued by Lina Inverse. And that's not counting the mess in Ruvinagard. I can understand why she'd be cautious about things after that." Zelgadis wasn't going to mention the part he played at Xoana.

"I see, yes. But one can imagine how royalty traveling with a friend of the opposite sex looks."

"I can imagine, yes. Try telling that to Amelia, though. She does her own thing, and it's probably better if I don't stand in her way. Besides, would anyone in their right mind really think she'd be dating a chimera?" Zelgadis's ankle twinged and he remembered the cut. "Can we stop a moment?"

They found a bench, in a middle class part of town. It was quiet, with most people having gone home for the noon meal and siesta. Zelgadis rolled up his pant leg, and finally cast the healing spell, then undid the bandage, using it to mop up most of the salve. He'd really have to bathe to get the smell off, though. At least he had been wearing his normal clothing, and not the stuff Amelia had picked out for him. "What kind of place has every punk in town carrying magic weapons?" he asked.

"Magic?" Archmage Awel said. "What do you mean?"

"Normal steel can't get through my skin. But the knife that was thrown at me cut me. So, it must have been magic, or something."

"Oh. I believe I understand. We've got a lot of demons in the desert. Normally the well-travelled routes are safe, because the army spends a lot of time hunting any bandits or demons near there. But lesser routes have to rely on private sources. A lot of people also try to find ruins in the desert as well, from before Hellmaster Phibrizzo made his home south of here. So most people who go into the desert have a demonsbane spell put on their weapons. It doesn't do much about mazoku or anything else, but it hurts most of the types of demons. I take it you're part demon, Mister Graywords?"

Zelgadis nodded. "A third brau demon. The other thirds are rock golem and human."

Archmage Awel's raised his eyebrows so much that they nearly vanished into his hairline. "Whoever created you knew what he was doing. Most sorcerers have enough trouble with a simple chimera."

Zelgadis looked at the old man. "What do you know about chimera, Archmage?"

"Not much. Mostly what I need to make sure I spot the attempts into creating human chimera before someone in the guild tries it. Creating human chimera is illegal in Jarei."

"It's illegal most places," Zelgadis said. "Doesn't stop people from trying it."

"If I may be so bold, how did your creator manage to dodge the law?"

Zelgadis snorted. ''By having too good of a reputation. No one believed he'd do it, even if I had named him. If I said his name right now, you'd think I was lying."

"Oh really?" Archmage Awel said. "Now, I'm curious as to his identity."

"Rezo, the Red Priest."

Archmage Awel did a double take. "You're- I see why no one believed you when you told them that. You're sure it was Rezo?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Zelgadis said, folding his arms. "If you're going to not believe me, can we just drop the subject?"

"Very well, Mister Graywords." Archmage Awel looked thoughtful. "I did hear a rumor that you were related to Rezo. It seems an interesting stretch to call a created chimera a relative, but-"

"I was," Zelgadis said. "I was his grandson. Or great grandson - I never was that clear on the blood relation, and he never really told me what had happened to my parents. I could be adopted, but I don't think I am. Whatever the hell he did to me to make me a chimera, it probably was easier with his blood running through my veins. "

"I see..." Archmage Awel said. "We're nearly at the Temple, Mister Graywords. Shall I leave you here to get cleaned up?"

Zelgadis shrugged. "That's fine."

The Archmage practically ran towards the palace. Zelgadis wondered if he unnerved the man, and smiled a bit. Good.

* * *

It was early in the day and Duke Shanin had already refused to see her.

"I'm terribly sorry about this, Princess," the king said. "He said something came up." Amelia noticed that among other things, King Kavei was a terrible liar. At least, what he said sounded flat, and, going with the fact that was the kind of excuse everyone used when they didn't want to know the real reason something happened, or go into details, make her think he was lying.

"It's fine, Your Majesty. I'm sure Duke Shanin is a busy man," Amelia said. "Was everyone else willing to meet with me?"

"It seems so," King Kavei said.

"Good. Thank you, by the way." Amelia smiled at him. "This has been a bit of a mess for both our kingdoms, so I hope these meetings will clear up some of the apprehension everyone has."

The meeting room the king had loaned her was a small sitting room. Large windows, open to catch the breezes, looked out onto the river, where a number of small boats cavorted below. Most of the furniture was low, and carved with geometric designs. There were two chairs and a table, where some servant had already set a pot of tea and several cups. Amelia arranged herself on one of the chairs, and poured herself a cup of tea.

Archmage Awel entered, wearing a slightly less ornate set of the robes he had worn for dinner last night. "Good morning, Princess. Did you sleep well?"

"I did, Archmage. Thank you for asking." Amelia smiled at him. "Would you like some tea?"

"No thank you."

Amelia had prepared a stored speech on the Southern Reclamation Project. It had been something to do on the long ride from the border. She had practiced it in front of Mister Zelgadis, who, before getting bored of her minor changes, had gotten quite good at asking obnoxious questions. She talked about how much land was marginally habitable in the south of her country, and about how it should go to the people willing to work it to make it livable. And how many of the settlers were potential landowners for the first time, and about all the families, like Mister Bartalan's, she had met in the south. And about how it was positively, absolutely not an armed camp, and Jarei shouldn't worry at all... but phrased more delicately than that. Memorizing it left part of her mind free to watch reactions, and change things around emphasize different bits, or summarize boring bits. Or maybe catch on who was against the project in Jarei.

Archmage Awel seemed attentive during it. "Are you going to tell His Majesty the King that?" he asked.

"Do you think he has time? I did prepare a report for him," Amelia held out the parchment she had written out at night, free of most of the smudges and ink stains her notes had, thanks to trying to write in a moving coach.

"I think he'd prefer to hear it from you personally. That way, if he has any questions, he can ask you directly. Plus, I'd say that was a very convincing presentation, so it may be better for His Majesty to hear it from you."

Amelia beamed. "Thank you, Archmage Awel. I'd hate to take up any more of his time. I know how busy running a country can be."

"If all else fails, as much as I loathe Gazi's habit of it, there isn't a rule in Jarei about bringing business up over meals. Perhaps we could see if he is busy for dinner."

"Perhaps we could. I'd have to see what Mister Zelgadis is doing, though."

Archmage Awel raised his eyebrows. "I didn't think Mister Graywords was involved in this."

"Well, he has seen the south as well. Plus, he has a lot of personal experience with chimera, what with him being one and all. It was being with him which inspired me to do this. Well, him and Mister Jillas, who you don't know; he was a foxman we met in the Outer World. And a few other beastmen I've met." Amelia took a breath, trying not to talk too fast. "It's not something most humans think about, you know."

"I know, Princess." Archmage Awel smiled at her. Amelia tried to decide if it was patronizing, or just a normal old man smile at youth. "But Mister Graywords isn't exactly sociable."

"Oh, that's true. Mister Zelgadis takes a while to warm up to people. He's really not a bad person, though."

"I'm sure. You certainly seem fond of him."

"Oh, of course I am. He's been a good friend." Amelia took a sip of her tea. "My, that's hot."

"We could send along for some iced tea," Archmage Awel said.

"I'd like that. But I don't mean to keep you, Archmage. You seem like you understand what I'm going for," Amelia said.

"I think I do." He stood up. "Thank you, Princess. You've given me much to think about."

Her next interview, Master Dareiba, came in about the same time a servant entered with a picture of water. Amelia was once again struck by how pale the woman looked, especially compared to most of the locals. She was carrying a closed parasol with her, the first and only time Amelia had seen someone with that here, and still had her smoked glass eyeglasses on, making her difficult to read. She listened to Amelia's speech carefully, and Amelia started to feel more confident.

"It sounds fine, Princess, I wouldn't worry about needing my approval," Master Dareiba said. "Having the south of Saillune more settled would just mean we could export more to you. Might make travel through things more easier."

"That's good to hear," Amelia said. "Master Dareiba, do you mind if I ask a personal question? You seem to take a lot of precautions against the Sun, especially living in Jarei."

Master Dareiba smiled faintly. "It's a condition I've had since birth. You've probably seen it more commonly in rabbits. My skin, hair and eyes are unusually light. I burn if I'm out in the sun, and bright light hurts my eyes. My vision is also not terribly good, and the eyeglasses help that as well. It's not that much of a hardship in a merchant, except I can't go out in caravans that often, and my vision is fine for close work."

"Would a healer help?" Amelia asked. "I'm sure High Priest Calande would-"

"Because I was born with it, it would take more magic than it's worth," Master Dareiba said. "It's not that much of a hardship, and a priest can treat any burns from the sun I get. Thank you for your concern, though, Princess."

"Oh, it's no problem," Amelia said. "I'm glad you sound so interested in the project, though."

"Well, it would make trade easier - some of your people will be closer to Jarei City than your capital, so they might want to get some of their goods from us."

Amelia nodded. Well, at least the day wasn't a total loss, even if she didn't gain anything else. "I hope we can talk more about this in the future."

"Of course, Princess. But I won't keep you from your duties today."

General Siraba was the next person Amelia had to interview. Amelia found herself emphasizing that really, the former settlers were peaceful, despite many of them being former mercenaries. All the while, she watched the woman sit straight as a sword and watch her like a hawk. It was enough to unsteady anyone, maybe even Miss Lina. Well, maybe not Miss Lina.

"Well, do you have any questions, General Siraba?"

"Some, Princess. This might seem odd, but since Saillune is also settling near the desert, I was wondering if you could help me with something?"

Amelia paused. This was not the response she was expecting. "I can try," she said. "Go ahead and ask, and I'll see what I can do."

"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but a lot of bandits and demons make their homes out in the Desert of Destruction."

Amelia nodded. "I made sure the southernmost communities had plenty of priests and sorcerers who know astral magic. And people who knew how to deal with demons."

General Siraba nodded. "Prudent. Well, my scouts have noticed an increase in demonic activity for the last couple of years. We were hoping that after Hellmaster Phibrizzo was vanquished, things would die down. But... well, I've had to lead several sorties into the southern wastes to clear out demons. I'm told Archmage Awel and High Priest Calande have done their own efforts. So, I was wondering if you had noticed something as well."

"Not that has been reported to me," Amelia said, "but we haven't been in the south as long as you. We wouldn't know what was normal activity. Why not ask Elemekia for help?"

"The more Elemekia stays out of our politics, the happier we are. And, as long as they get their tribute, they leave us to eat or starve. Besides," she lowered her voice, "I fear this may be an attack on Jarei, which is why I ask. If it was bothering Saillune as well, I would assume it was something coming from the Desert itself. If it wasn't... I fear for His Majesty. There was already foul play involving the death of Zureika and her consort-"

"I hadn't heard that," Amelia said. "I thought Queen Zureika died of natural causes. An illness of some kind."

General Siraba smiled, a bit nervously. "There I go, repeating court gossip. I'm much better keeping my mouth shut on the battlefield. I'm sure someone would mention it to you sooner or later. There were rumors the Queen's illness was brought on by poison. Gazi blames the foreigners, Esther blames Gazi, Nasim's content to delude himself into thinking it was natural, Simin keeps her own counsel, and the King keeps all of us on a short leash."

Amelia raised her eyebrow. "And you, General?"

"I'm just a military officer, Princess. Poison's not my weapon of choice. If I had to say something, it would be if the demons are summoned by someone, they were the ones who put Kavei on the throne."

Amelia shuddered. "That's horrible."

"It's politics," General Siraba shrugged. "You see why I don't care for it. Give me an honest duel, or a battle. I never was one for magic and poison in the dark. Things might be different for the White Magic Capital. Or not."

Amelia thought of Cousin Alfred and Uncle Randy. _Definitely 'or not'_. At least none of them had tried poison, though Uncle Randy had taken up demon summoning, and Alfred had made that deal with Kanzel and Mazenda. "Thank you, General"

"Of course," General Siraba bowed as she left.

Amelia sunk back into the chair after the general left. "Demons. Why did it have to be demons?" she wondered.

* * *

Zelgadis was finally feeling a bit more civilized, after a nice lunch and a bath. No one had been using the bath at this hour of day, and it felt good to scrub off layers of sweat that had pooled beneath his clothing. The cool water also helped; it took a lot to heat up his body, but once he started to heat up, it took nothing short of cool water, or several hours in the shade, to cool down.

He was drying off in his room, and trying to find a clean pair of trousers that wasn't out in the laundry or fancy, when there was a knock on the door. "I'm in a towel," he grumbled. "Come back later." He finally grabbed the rumpled set of pajama bottoms from the foot of his bed, and put them on. The knocking persisted. "Fine. I've got pants on. Come in."

Miwan entered. "Pardon me, Mister Graywords, but there's a visitor asking to see you or the Princess, and I was wondering-"

"Who the heck wants to see me? Can't they wait until Amelia gets back?" Zelgadis wasn't sure if he should feel embarrassed about Miwan seeing him half naked. He wouldn't around most men, but... well, he had gotten used to thinking of Miwan as a woman when they had first met, and still wasn't sure what that meant. Plus, there was the fact he didn't like being stared at by strangers, and there was a bit more to stare at right now. On the other hand, it wasn't anything Miwan hadn't seen before, thanks to his unmasking at Femile.

"It's Mister Basim, the Elemekian ambassador." Miwan said. "He said he had a message for you."

"Fine," Zelgadis said. And he had just gotten over spending the morning being arrested and attacked. "Stall him for ten minutes while I get dressed."

Amelia had given him a long list about what to wear for every occasion. Surprisingly, Zelgadis remembered it, even though he didn't quite see the point, besides that it made her happy. Most of what she had got for him wasn't very ornate, and he couldn't really tell the differences in fabric, besides that it was all of a much finer weave than he normally bothered with. He grabbed the first thing she had told him was 'informal daywear' - which still was nicer than what he normally wore - and seemed to match, then dressed quickly. He assumed whoever this was would be in the courtyard, so he went down the stairs of the wing he and Amelia were staying in.

Miwan was standing next to the man Zelgadis could only assume was the Elemekian ambassador. He dressed like a native, but his fair hair, starting to bald near the top, made him stand out against most of the darker-skinned people of Jarei. "Sir Graywords, I presume?" he said.

"If you must use a title, 'mister' works fine. I'm no noble, and I'm definitely not a knight," Zelgadis said. "What was so important that you couldn't wait to speak to Amelia?"

"Let me show you two to a meeting room," Miwan said. "I need to get back to my studies."

The meeting room was small and airy, and looked out on a fountain. Moreover, it had one door and one window, so Zelgadis could keep his back to a wall and watch his new guest. _Politics. Oh, boy. This ought to be interesting_. "So, again-"

"What was so important I couldn't tell someone here, and couldn't wait for the Princess to return?" Ambassador Vasin asked.

"Yes." Zelgadis frowned. He didn't like being interrupted. "Exactly."

"I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were getting into," the ambassador said. "While Saillune has always been an ally of the Empire, its foreign policy has always been a bit..."

"You don't need to mince words with me," Zelgadis said. "I've met Prince Phil, and I've traveled with Amelia. You want to know what the hell we're doing here."

"I wouldn't put it so bluntly, Mister Graywords, but yes. And I wanted to warn you. As you can imagine, it would match Saillune's past track record to have come in with minimal intelligence, so I thought it would assist you to know some things."

_'ll bet_. Zelgadis was already willing to join Amelia in the 'I hate political manipulations' camp. She at least had enough respect for her title and her ideals to put up with it in the name of Saillune and Justice. He was here out of - what? Friendship? Probably. _I'm getting soft on the inside - four years ago, I would have walked out when I started getting chased down by cops and rained on_. "All right, fine, Mister Ambassador. What do you have to tell me."

"You realize this is confidential, don't you, Mister Graywords?"

"I'm not an idiot," Zelgadis said. "Anything you have to say is between you and me, plus Amelia."

"I thought I'd warn you there's a pretty strong faction advocating Jarei isolationism. I believe they are backing guerrillas on our borders, attacking the settlements out there, as well as trade between Jarei and Elemekia. What they mean to accomplish I don't know, but they may well object to Saillune getting involved."

As near as Zelgadis could tell, that was diplomat-speak for 'the Jarei people want us to butt out, and probably want you to do the same'. Given how large Elemekia was, he couldn't blame Jarei there. The Empire could well eat them alive, and probably only the desert and the demons kept Jarei as only a tributary, rather than becoming an unwilling part of the Elemekian Empire. "Got it. Isolationism isn't news, though."

"True enough. However, I'll bet you didn't know one of the King's Council was associated with them. Watch out for Duke Shanin."

"Is that it?" Zelgadis said.

Ambassador Vasin nodded. "I would like to get your assurances that your actions are peaceful. On behalf of Saillune."

Zelgadis stared at him. "I don't speak for Saillune. Besides, it's _Saillune_. They don't fight unless someone starts either picking fights, or conquering their neighbors. Their policy's pretty consistent there."

"Indeed. One always keeps an eye out on things since a new ruler comes to the throne. What with King Eldoran's continuing illness, and Princess Amelia's ascension to her majority, Saillune's policy might change. Not to mention the changes in the world. The God-sealing barrier coming down and the reemergence of Taforashia has affected the geopolitical landscape, and that will affect Saillune, which affects the Empire."

"If things change, you'll be the twenty-third to know," Zelgadis said. "Are you done?"

"Yes, I am. Thank you for listening to me." The ambassador rose.

Zelgadis remained seated. "Good bye."

* * *

Zelgadis was roused from a very sound slumber when he felt something pressing on his throat. He quickly opened his eyes a bit and glanced through half-closed lids to see a dark form standing in front of the window, and leaning over him. Steeling himself not to move any more than he had to, he silently mouthed the spell he wanted. The cloth at his throat was cut, and he jumped up, grabbing for the form he had seen at his bedside. He tripped a bit getting out of bed, and quickly turned that into a ready crouch.

It was still dark in the room, but the setting moon gave enough light to make out the rough shapes of things. The man - or woman, or humanoid thing - that had been trying to strangle him in his sleep was back. Zelgadis saw him (or her, or it) crouch, then bolt for the window. "Oh, no you don't. _Mono Volt_." He timed his own leap to meet his target in the air, and hoped that the lightning spell would get through whatever layers of cloth his target wore.

The figure at least seemed disoriented, which was a good sign. Zelgadis got a better grip on him, immobilizing him and readying another _Mono Volt_ spell. It probably wouldn't be terribly good for his opponent's health to get shocked twice, but Zelgadis wasn't too concerned with the life of someone who had just tried to kill him. It might be useful to have someone to question, though. "Not smart, trying to choke someone with stone skin with a piece of cloth. Next time, find something that could actually hurt me."

He was trying to figure out what to do with his prisoner, when he heard a scream from the next room. Zelgadis swore. "Amelia!" He cast the _Mono Volt_, which was enough to knock his target out at least, then went tearing into the hallway. He went for Amelia's door, opening it in a hurry, and nearly got zapped by a stray spell.

"Amelia, it's me! Zelgadis, remember?" He flattened himself against the wall. "Do you need any help?"

"Mister Zelgadis! Yes, some help would be nice, but I think I can manage on my own." Zelgadis tried to figure out what the hell she meant by that, but then decided that it was probably better to be safe and come in, especially since the spells had stopped.

The room was lit by a light spell, and Zelgadis brought up his hand to shield out some of the sudden light. Amelia was standing on her bed, which looked like it had been through a war, with scorch marks and shredded bedding and feathers surrounding her feet. He quickly glanced over to size up her opponents.

In one corner, stood what Zelgadis could only assume was the comrade of the man who had just tried to kill him - dressed in dark, utilitarian clothing, with most of his skin covered, and sporting several knives, blackened as to not reflect the moonlight. The would-be assassin - or whatever he was, but he wasn't a window washer, that's for sure - held the knife out, in a 'ready to attack all comers' position. However, in the other corner were a couple of lesser demons. One hissed a bit.

"Aw hell," Zelgadis said. "Amelia, which one do you want?"

"I'll take the demons, Mister Zelgadis. You deal with the man in black." More like dark grey and midnight blue, but black was close enough. Zelgadis nodded, and advanced on the assassin. It was a bit tricky finding a spell that would work without taking out half the rooms in the wing. But another _Mono Volt_ ought to do it, and leave them two prisoners to interrogate.

Amelia, on the other hand, was relatively unconstrained. She used the last remaining springiness of the mattress to propel herself fist-first at the demons. "_Visfarank_!" Zelgadis was reminded creepily of Prince Phil's normal combat strategy.

This distraction was enough to startle the assassin, if only for a moment. A moment was all Zelgadis needed. He closed and grabbed the man's wrist, finding a bit of exposed skin between his glove and sleeve. "_Mono Volt_." The assassin crumpled.

Amelia had beaten the demons nearly back into the astral plane . At the very least, they had leapt to the window and she poised on the window sill. "Amelia, don't go flying off into the dark after them," he cautioned.

"But they're getting away!" Amelia was balanced on the sill of the window, and Zelgadis really hoped she didn't have one of her random streaks of clumsiness.

"Yeah, but there might be more of them waiting to surprise you. Especially since your eyes aren't adjusted to low light. If I wanted to hurt someone in a bright room, I'd try it as soon as they stepped into the dark, before they saw me."

"Mister Zelgadis, that's a villainous thing to say." But she jumped down from the sill.

"I'm not exactly a heroic kind of person, Amelia."

Just then, Miwan rushed in, sword drawn. The effect would have been much stronger if he wasn't still in a nightshirt. "What's going on in here? It sounded like someone was dying."

Zelgadis nodded. Of course, the calvary was late and underdressed, and probably much less effective than the would-be victims. So what else was new? "Let's see. This guy," he motioned to the unconscious would-be assassin with his foot, "and his buddy tried to kill Amelia and I in our sleep. Thankfully, he didn't quite know what to do about me, and was interrupted by a pair of lesser demons that were also trying to kill Amelia." He looked to Amelia for confirmation.

"That's right," Amelia nodded.

"Since the demons are gone, and the assassins are out cold, why don't you figure out what to do about them?" Zelgadis looked to Miwan. "I"m probably not going to get to go back to bed anytime soon.


	4. Chapter 4

The assassins had been stowed somewhere - Zelgadis wasn't terribly sure where, but they were guarded. "Now, I'd like to know who sent them. You don't suppose-"

Someone had finally woken up High Priest Calande and she was standing there, with only the dark circles around her eyes showing it was well past midnight. "I'm sorry, Mister Graywords, but that might be impossible. These men-"

Amelia looked up. "Are they from some sort of secretive group of assassins that lurk in the shadows, and are sworn to never reveal their name of employers, even if you threaten torture? Or were their tongues cut out by a mob boss, so they couldn't tell any tales if captured? Or maybe a suicide pill... are they still alive, High Priest Calande?"

"My, what a sense of imagination you have, Princess." High Priest Calande smiled, in a way that Zelgadis would have smacked her for if he was Amelia. Well, more likely ignored with an annoyed glance. He didn't think Amelia noticed, though.

"I was going to say they were probably were hired through so many intermediaries, we'd be chasing down people for a month," Zelgadis said. "I want to avoid improbable conspiracy theories, and some secretive organization of assassins or organized crime syndicate just makes things even more complicated. Plus, they probably would have done a better job."

"Are you objecting to those guys being incompetent, Mister Zelgadis?" Amelia asked, a twinkle in her eye. He wondered why she seemed so perky; he was running on adrenaline right now.

"Not at all."

"If you'll excuse me, Princess, Mister Graywords, those demons did a number on our wards. I'll have to see what can be done before morning." High Priest Calande nodded to them both. "Most of the rooms in this wing are free, if you need to shift locations. Just look for one without a nameplate on the door."

Amelia nodded. "Thank you, High Priest Calande."

The High Priest left, and Amelia started gathering up her clothing. "Don't bother," Zelgadis said.

"Excuse me, Mister Zelgadis?"

"You can get it in the morning. No one's going to steal anything in the mean time."

"I'd still like to keep some of my documents with me," Amelia said. "Uncle Christopher would have a fit if I left them in an unsecured room."

"Fine," Zelgadis said. "I need to get my sword and some things from my room, anyway."

Zelgadis quickly went and grabbed his sword, and took out his rolled-up bedroll from on top of his pack, and a pillow from his bed. He returned to Amelia. "All right, let's start knocking on doors."

"What's all that stuff for?" Amelia asked.

"Like hell I'm letting you sleep unguarded." Zelgadis said. "Besides, if you're guessing randomly, it'll be harder for whoever this is to find one room than two." Amelia didn't answer, quickly turning a shade of red. Zelgadis sighed, feeling his own cheeks start to flush. "I didn't mean it like _that_, Amelia. I brought the bedroll for that reason. Hell, we could drag the mattress from my room onto the floor. It's not like there's bed frames in here."

"To be honest, this is the first time I've shared a room with a man who wasn't a family member, Mister Zelgadis, without, you know, Miss Lina or another woman with me. I don't think it's quite appropriate. I mean, we're just friends, and all, I thought, and-"

Zelgadis sighed. "I said I didn't mean it like that. You and I and Lina and Gourry have camped together lots of times, and there was Redcliffe-"

"Well, _that's_ totally different. No one's in a room, and you and Mister Gourry are on one side of the fire and Miss Lina and I are on the other. And in Redcliffe, we had a sheet. What if someone like High Priest Calande or Mister Miwan saw us?"

"Fine. Would you like to talk about who did it now or in the morning?"

"The morning, I think. I don't know if I'll sleep, but I'm too tired to not try."

"All right," Zelgadis said. "I'll be in the next room, if you need anything."

He was just settling back into bed when he heard a knock on the door. He figured a very polite assassin was unlikely. He was tempted to tell whoever it was to get lost, so he could get back to bed. "Come in," he said.

Amelia entered. "I'm sorry, Mister Zelgadis, but I just can't get to sleep. Do you mind-"

Oh, for crying out loud. She had _just_ argued against this. "Fine. Fine. My bedroll's against the wall. You can use that, all right? I'm going to try getting some sleep right here."

"The bedroll?" Amelia asked.

Zelgadis wondered if she had expected him to give up the bed for her. Like hell he was doing that. She had already declined his offer the first time. And it wasn't as if they could share the bed. Neither of them would get any sleep that way. At least, Zelgadis thought he'd be pretty damn distracted by it - hell, the thought was distracting - and judging from Amelia freaking out about even sharing a room, he thought she'd feel the same way. Not to mention, he was pretty sure it wouldn't be comfortable for her in other ways. "Yes, the bedroll. Unless you want to drag your mattress in here. But tell me if you do that, because I'd like to get some sleep tonight."

"No, the bedroll's fine." He heard Amelia lie down, and the cloth sounds of her moving against the bedroll, trying to get comfortable. He hoped she wasn't just saying that to make him feel better, then decided if she was, she should speak up about it. If not tonight, then next time. As long as it was in the morning.

* * *

_"Bomb di Wind_!"

Lina Inverse had learned something about mercenaries in the last couple of days. The first was that there were varying sizes of groups, and that the two Enarra had mentioned, Becker's Brigade and Russell's Rangers, were both small groups, specialized for hit and run attacks. The second was that very few groups of mercenaries, no matter how elite they sounded, weren't prepared for a single sorcery genius (and one damn good swordsman partner) invading their campsite at night, when they weren't in a combat situation.

"You know, most mercenaries expect to fight groups," Gourry said as he fended off several mercenaries of Becker's Brigade that had the presence of mind to grab their weapons before their pants. He kicked up one of the bedrolls into a man's face, backing up to keep pace with Lina as she strode to the command tent, oblivious of the chaos she had just set off.

"Well, then they've learned a valuable lesson," Lina said. "Think of what would have happened if I was an enemy agent, huh?"

"You mean you aren't?" One of the men Gourry was fighting nearly fell down in shock as he said that, giving Gourry an opening to push him aside with the flat of his sword.

"You know, Lina, you probably could have used your magic to sneak in," Gourry said. "I mean, we're not even sure these are the right guys."

"This works fine, Jellyfish Brains. You're keeping up, and we're almost there. And I didn't even use any fire spells, except the one on one of the tents. Wind's easy enough to clean up after." Plus, it had the benefit of letting her keep in practice, and was a good excuse to stretch her magical muscles against someone more sophisticated than the average bandit. Not that these guys were really much better than a bandit gang. They ought to be ashamed of themselves, really. It probably would have been better practice to be stealthy. Though, if these guys were as good of guards as they were fighters, Prince Phil leading a flight of dragons and the entire Saillune Royal Orchestra could have snuck into camp.

Lina cast another wind spell silently, and then turned aside the tent flap, letting her cape blow in the wind. "Rumor has it you mercenaries were raiding caravans. That makes you no better than bandits, in my opinion."

What Lina could only assume was the commander, a middle-aged man that actually looked pretty tough... if he wasn't in his night shirt with a pair of pants around his ankles, turned towards her, a shocked look on his face. She tried to keep a straight face. Some people just didn't know the value of drama. Depressing, really. "I don't know anything about any caravan," he said. "What the hell do you think you are doing to my soldiers, Little Missy?"

"The Sorcerer Guild's caravan to Atlas City was robbed. Rumors put your men at the scene of the crime." Which was a bit of an exaggeration, really, but at least five mercenaries in the bars said they were both a shady company and had a lot more money than normal, last week.

The man paled. _Lucky_! Lina grinned. For once, it _wasn't_ the last group on her list. "I..."

"Listen, if you have the stuff, we'll let you off with-"

"A warning?" the man looked hopeful. "Listen, it was just a sparse season, and I had to feed my men and-"

Lina cut him off with a gesture. "I meant, we'd turn you over to the Sorcerer's Guild, as opposed to letting me finish setting your camp on fire."

"Seth, what do you think you are doing?"

Lina turned to see where that had come from. A woman in sorceress's robes, the showy velvet kinds with the embroidered mystical symbols, and not the black leather battle bikini with cape that the younger set favored, thank heavens, came into the back of the tent. _Aw, heck, I'll bet they're married, and Gourry and I got the middle of another stupid marital debate_.

"Hello, sis. I was just talking with-"

"Don't 'hello sis' me. What is going on here?"

"Well, if you wouldn't interrupt me, I'd tell you."

_Oh, it's worse than a marital dispute - it's sibling rivalry. This is why people should go far from home as soon as they're old enough to travel_. "Gourry," Lina looked around for her partner. "Hurry up with those mercenaries, please? I might need you over here."

"I'll see what I can do," Gourry said. He looked like he was holding his own fine. "Can you ask if the leaders will order them to stop fighting me?"

"Well?" Lina looked at Seth and the sorceress.

"Are you kidding?" the sorceress stared back. "This is our camp! You're invading us! That could be an act of war against our employers."

"Well, if you stole that bunch of books from the caravan, I get to arrest you _and_ confiscate whatever I find as an officer of the Atlas City Sorcerers' Guild." Lina grinned. "Your employers don't like it, that's not my problem."

"One moment," Commander Seth said. "We need to confer."

"Fine. Tell your men to stop beating up my partner then."

The commander sighed, then produced a respectable bellow. "You heard the cape, men. Disengage!"

To Lina's satisfaction, the three guys fighting Gourry moved off, and Gourry relaxed a hair. Still in a position to start again if they got close, but no longer obviously on guard. He looked tired; even the best swordsman could be worn down, Lina supposed, and at this stage he was probably lucky he wasn't just going for the kill instead of stunning or disarming most of his opponents.

"Wait outside," the commander told her.

"And let you plot against me, or try to sneak out the back way?" Lina said. "I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Fine. Fine." The two turned their back on her, and started a hurried conversation in hushed tones. Even Lina's excellent hearing couldn't pick up on what they were saying, which was a shame. It would only give her a moment of warning if they decided to try something stupid, like order their mercenaries to attack.

When they turned back to face her, they were grinning. That was never a good sign. They were going to try to do something smart, and she'd end up having to set everything on fire, and everyone would be worse off. Well, _they'd_ be worse off, and she and Gourry would be extra tired when she finally got back to her nice inn room.

"Well?" Lina said. She called a spell to mind, really to yell out the Chaos Words to invoke it if things got hairy. Mega Brand would be best in close quarters. She saw Gourry move in beside her, ready to either jump towards the leaders of this ragged band of bandit mercenaries with his sword, or away from whatever spell she cast.

"Well, we came into possession of something that _could_ have been your goods," the sorceress said. "But we turned it over to our employer last week. Guess you won't know if we were really responsible, huh?"

"Guess not," Lina said. She started saying the words for the Lighting spell under her breath, letting the magic trickle through her fingers and form light in her hand. A magic user ought to recognize the difference, but... well, there were a lot of two-bit magic users that didn't. Plus, it looked impressive and would blind the two while she made her exit and got into a better position. Gourry backed up; whether it was to get clear of the tent, or to avoid the spell she wasn't sure. He'd seen her use this trick before, and his otherwise-terrible memory did actually work most times about battle strategies. "On the other hand, you two just admitted you raided _a_ caravan, even if it wasn't necessarily the _right_ caravan. So, that makes you bandits in my book, even if you aren't the ones I was paid to bring in. Fair game." She smiled back at them.

The two exchanged a look, their grins suddenly replaced with very dismayed looks. "Hey, Tasha, I think that's Lina Inverse," the commander said. "You know, the Bandit Killer."

"No kidding," the sorceress Tasha said.

"Bingo!" Lina said. It was so nice to be recognized.

"Wait!" the commander said. "Tasha made a copy of some of the books. She couldn't read them, but they looked magic. If you set fire to us, they'll burn up too."

So, Commander Seth was smarter than he looked. "Hand them over." Lina said.

"No way," Tasha said. "Those are valuable magical documents! You wouldn't set fire to them."

"You just admitted they're only copies," Lina said. "Even if they _do_ get burned up, the originals still exist."

"You're bluffing."

Lina just grinned, and increased the power of her light spell. Seth and Tasha, the commander and the sorceress, exchanged a terrified look. "We'll hand them over. Just don't cast any more spells!" the commander said.

"I can do that," Lina said. "Gourry, go with the sorceress when she gets the papers."

"You sure?" Gourry asked.

"I think you're faster than she is on the draw," Lina said. "You've got those instincts of yours."

Gourry nodded to her, smiling. "That's the nicest thing you've said to me all day, Lina."

"Oh, just do it." Lina rolled her eyes. She turned back to the commander as Gourry and the sorceress Tasha left for where ever a mercenary sorceress kept her working notes. "I hate the waiting part."

Gourry and the sorceress returned quickly, thank goodness, with Gourry holding a stack of papers. "This is all of them," he said. "I made sure."

"And you did not need to tear my tent apart looking for more, you idiot muscle brained swordsman!" The sorceress Tasha was utterly livid. Lina was noticing her face turning red, and a rather dangerous looking vein was starting to be visible. "Half of those are my own personal notes, not copies from books!"

"We'll let the Guild return anything that isn't its property, or things they're going to confiscate to pay for losses," Lina said. Considering the Sorcerers' Guild was pretty damn mercenary for a group of old people in frilly embroidered robes, it probably wouldn't be much. "And I'd say Gourry was pretty smart, considering that you probably tried to hide some things in your own documents." Judging from the sputtering rage from the sorceress, Lina thought she hit the target. Besides, there was the principle of the matter. Sure, she might insult Gourry worse when she was angry, but he was _her_ partner, dammit, and no one else was going to call him an idiot. Besides, she was pretty sure he knew she didn't mean much by it. She hoped.

"Are you feeling all right, Lina?" Gourry gave her a concerned look.

"I'm fine, Jellyfish," she said. Of course, that didn't mean she thought there wasn't a grain of truth to the insults. "Hand me the papers, all right?"

She started flipping through them when Gourry handed them to her, trusting him to keep an eye on things as they went. Tasha's notes were pretty clear, and Lina thought she recognized other sorcerers' works. At least, the methods they used to keep their work hidden from prying eyes looked familiar, though for all she could tell from a brief glance, they could actually be their mothers' secret spice cake recipes. Some magic users were _weird_ about secrets.

The pages she was interested were dark with charcoal or graphite, as if someone had done a rubbing of something and had saved the paper. The dust rubbed off on Lina's gloves as she leafed through the papers. A series of dark dots stood out from the dark surface, as if they had been raised and captured more charcoal than the flat paper. Someone, probably Tasha, had gone over the dots with colored ink, to protect against the smudging that handling the paper did, or at least make sure that even a smudged paper was still legible. It occurred to Lina that making indentations and raised dots would be quite legible to someone reading in the dark... or a blind man. She held one up. "This is it?"

"Yes," the sorceress said.

"Great," Lina said. "Now, if you two will accompany me back to town, I can turn you over to the Guild and we can get paid." She wasn't really sure what to do with the rest of the men, since she couldn't haul them all in. Probably just drop a line to some of Gourry's mercenary friends that Becker's Brigade had been caught in banditry, then come back after she got paid and delivered the notes to make sure the remains had dispersed and weren't just trying to become highwaymen. After this mess, more 'teaching bandits the meaning of the word fear' sounded like a nice way to relax. And maybe after that, she could go find a beach somewhere, and take a break.

"And what makes you think we're going to go willingly?" the sorceress Tasha said.

"Tasha, don't!" the commander yelled.

Lina tucked the papers away, into the fireproof pocket of her cape, then dismissed the light spell. Gourry moved out of the way, to face the rest of the camp. "Damu Brass!"

Or she could just raze the camp now, then have Gourry help her haul back the unconscious ringleaders. That worked too.

* * *

Amelia couldn't get comfortable. Part of it was being on the hard wood floor, with only Zelgadis's bedroll and her pillow. _Maybe I should have dragged in the mattress, like Mister Zelgadis said_. Somehow that seemed like even more of a disruption. Silly enough to ask to spend the night in a friend's room, like he was her father, because someone had tried to kill both of them. Especially after he had offered, under the guise of a guard.

Besides, it's not like it was terribly romantic. Amelia had read plenty of romance stories about how the heroine had watched the hero sleep and had observed a inner vulnerability to his otherwise tough facade. She had been curious, and had pretty much observed that if that was true of Zelgadis, it wasn't anything she could discern. He did look a lot happier being asleep than he generally did awake, especially before his first cup of coffee in the morning, but he also looked pretty silly.

It hadn't fit any of the romance novel cliches, either. Zelgadis hadn't even thought of offering her his bed, or anything else, for that matter.

Eventually, as dawn was starting to shine through the windows Amelia decided to get up for good, and go back into her own room to change. She put on a loose belted tunic and trousers, and grabbed her slippers. She felt like she hadn't slept at all last night, and she was tempted just to find a quiet spot somewhere and curl up for the rest of the day. "But, I have things to do in the morning, if I could remember what they were." She had her schedule in her belt pouch, and she took it out and looked at it. "I'm not going to be awake for half of these." It occurred to her that an assassination attempt was an excuse to cancel meetings, but that seemed a bit of a show of weakness. "Besides, if I did that, I'd never get anything done."

She crept downstairs into the small pantry. The kitchen staff was already up and about preparing breakfast for the temple's residents, but it wasn't ready yet. Amelia managed to find some of last night's bread left over, and took it back to her room to snack on while breakfast cooked.

By that time, she heard sounds of people waking up. She passed by Zelgadis's room just as he was leaving, dressed for the day. "Sleep well?" he asked.

"Well," Amelia thought about whether to answer him honestly, or be diplomatic. "I suppose considering what happened, I didn't sleep horribly."

Zelgadis nodded. "Next time, you might want to take up my offer." Sweet heavens, did he realize how that sounded? Apparently either he did, or read it in her face. "I meant, the guard thing. So you feel safe."

"Right, the guard thing. I guess next time I won't worry so much about it."

Zelgadis nodded. "I wanted to go over who might have sent either the assassins or the demons. Over breakfast. You look like you could use some tea."

In fact, it took at least two cups of tea and a lot more food than people normally ate at breakfast before Amelia was feeling a bit more normal, and not like there was sandpaper coating her eyes and her face was all puffy. Zelgadis looked like he had slept fine. "So, who do you think did it?" she asked.

"I don't know. Who did we annoy badly enough to make them want to kill you?"

Amelia sighed. "And I was trying to increase goodwill towards Saillune. When we got here, we only had one enemy. Now we have two."

Zelgadis had taken out a piece of paper. "We've only really interacted with the king and his council, so let's look at them first. I suppose the Elemekian ambassador also counts as someone one of us has spoken to, but let's leave him off for now."

Amelia nodded. "That makes sense." She watched him write down their names. "And, yes, let's leave him off."

"That's King Kavei, General Siraba, Master Dareiba, Duke Shanin, Archamage Awel and High Priest Calande. What order do you want to go in?"

"Alphabetical works," Amelia said. "Archmage Awel. He seemed nice enough to me."

"He came out to get me after I ran afoul of the local laws," Mister Zelgadis said. "Seemed awfully interested in how I became a chimera. Said it was so he could better enforce the laws against people trying to create them. He also wanted to know how I knew you."

"That fits with what I thought about him. I think he was fishing for potential spouses for the king."

Zelgadis raised his brow. "I wouldn't think you'd be interested in that," he said slowly.

"I'm not, Mister Zelgadis," Amelia said. "I mean, I'm sure the king is a perfectly nice person, and all. I mean, from what I've seen of him, he is, but I still barely know him. Besides, if my sister does decide to never come back, I'll be the one on the throne, which means I can't go marrying into another royal family. Not unless I'm prepared to merge the kingdoms."

"I can't imagine that the isolationists here would like that," Zelgadis said. "The other questions did worry me. If someone interested in chimera, they could also be able to summon demons. A sorcerer, especially a Guild Leader, ought to be able to find the books pretty easily."

"True," Amelia said. "But, his reasons did make sense on their own. And most everyone else seems to think he's not that socially aware."

"It would go with his idea to marry the king off to you," Zelgadis said.

"That gives the High Priest next. Did you hear anything about her?"

"Not really," Zelgadis said. "You?"

"No. About the only hint that something would be wrong is that Miss Sholei... Sholeiba, sorry, could have easily contacted her without having any suspicion arise. Also, she's a magic user, so could summon demons if she had to."

Zelgadis nodded. "We can check the messenger thing with someone, if someone hasn't hidden it. If she summoned the demons, it would explain how they got into a temple. The wards aren't as strong as the ones in Saillune City, but it wouldn't have been a walk in the park."

"Paranoid much, Mister Zelgadis?"

"Two someones tried to kill us last night. It's not paranoia if someone is really out to get you. Next is Master Dareiba... tab Dareiba? I haven't spoken with her, but she gives me the creeps."

"She's got a skin disorder, so she has to cover up and wear dark eyeglasses."

"Are we sure about that?"

"Well, most people her age don't have white hair," Amelia said. Plenty of people had light hair, but pure white was less likely. "She's also very pale. And even if she is hiding something, that doesn't mean that it has to do with us. From when I talked to her, she was very interested in trading with Saillune. It wouldn't make sense to start a war that way. I think she's the least likely candidate."

"Point. Unless she wants to encourage arms dealers and mercenaries," Zelgadis said.

"I don't think so. Considering Jarei would fare poorly in a war, even against a peaceful country like Saillune."

"So noted. The king? You had dinner with him last night, didn't you? What did you talk about?"

"He seemed really nice," Amelia said. She wondered if Zelgadis was jealous - no, that was silly. They were talking about someone who might send an assasin, not who might ask her to a ball. "We talked a lot about my plans for the south of Saillune and then I ended up telling some stories about my travels. He hasn't been out of the country much, so he was interested to hear about other places, especially the Outer World."

Zelgadis nodded. "So the king has got the same positive outlook that Dareiba does?"

" I think General Siraba thinks he was involved with the death of the old queen and her consort, though."

"Really? What makes you say that?" Zelgadis tilted his head, staring at her.

"Nothing specific - she said that Duke Shanin blamed the foreigners and High Priest Calande blamed him and the isolation movement. And then she said whoever killed the old queen wanted King Kavei on the throne." Amelia considered. "But he seems like such a nice person." Which wasn't a strong argument against it, unfortunately.

Zelgadis nodded. "What a mess."

"Yes, it is."

"What about the General? It seems like she might be worth looking at as someone who'd be interested in a war."

"You'd think so, but she seemed like she wanted to be helpful," Amelia said.

"She's the one who told you about the king? Sounds more like spreading rumors than being helpful."

"That's a possibility as well, I suppose." Amelia said. "But isn't that a bit paranoid?"

Zelgadis cleared his throat.

"Well, yes," Amelia said. "But it's going to be hard to narrow down the choices if we can't rule anyone out."

"Then we can just rank the most suspicious ones, and do them first."

"This is going to take a while, isn't it?" Amelia said.

"Probably. I hate politics."

Amelia sighed. "So do I, Mister Zelgadis. At least, we only have one more person on the list. I didn't talk to Duke Shanin."

"Neither did I. But the Elemekian ambassador said he was working with the isolationists, and General Siraba said High Priest Calande thought he killed the queen. But, he probably didn't summon the demons-"

"What, you mean you think someone _didn't_ do something, Mister Zelgadis?"

"Well, I think it's safe to assume one of the magic users was our demon summoners, with a third option being someone hired, like the assassins. So, I think we should focus trying to rule out Calande and Awel as our demon summoners, and only consider the others as people who hired either the assassins or a demon summoner." Mister Zelgadis said.

Amelia nodded. "Glad that's settled. Now I have to do something even harder. I have to tell Uncle Christopher I ran into trouble." She slumped down. "He's probably going to try to order me home - I can feel it. He isn't going to like this."


	5. Interlude

"Excuse me?"

The scene was a normal cafe in the wealthier parts of Jarei City, near the palace. Various middle to upper-level bureaucrats and minor nobility were finishing up breakfast before a hard day of work, or play as the case may be. A woman sat in the shade of one of the umbrellas, a cup of tea near one hand, a loaf of buttered bread next to it, and a sheaf of papers sitting in front of her. A keen eye might recognize her as Master Simin tab Dareiba. A keen mind might notice that the dark glasses and pale hair that defined Master tab Dareiba would make her both stand out in a crowd, and would attract the eye, so that someone might not remember the shape of her jaw, or other signifiers of the human form. She looked up as the man approached - he was evidently a tourist, since few would wear a thick, black priest's cloak in the heat of Jarei. Someone watching carefully might even notice that she looked more started than one would expect a merchant to be upon meeting a traveller over breakfast. "Yes," she said. "What is it?"

"I was wondering I could ask you - do you have any family near the coast?" the man said, taking a seat, and setting his own tea on the table.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, there's a distinct family resemblance to my dear aunt, and I thought I'd see if that branch of the family had members all the way out here in Jarei. You're known as Simin tab Dareiba, correct?"

"That's correct."

What follows is a long conversation about relatives that any individual with half a brain could carry on, let alone listen to. However, if one wanted to see the real action, one would have to have some sort of ears on the Astral Plane, where our two breakfast-goers were having quite a different conversation.

"Beast-priest Xellos," the one that corresponded to Master tab Dareiba said, "what brings you out here?" As much as one can read into the expression of a mazoku's voice, she sounded guarded and a bit worried.

"Just an investigation. I remember both of our masters were interested in what was going on here in Jarei after the Hellmaster met his end, but I was called away on another matter relating to a little problem Chaos-Dragon Gaav left behind for us, and one thing or another have kept me busy."

The one that corresponded to Master tab Dareiba nodded - or gave the equivalent gesture, neither mazoku having what amounted to a humanoid form. Suffice to say, Xellos had caught onto the meaning of the gesture. "I am familiar with that," she said.

"Well, by the time I finished with Gaav's little problem, and Lord Beastmaster and I could turn our attention back out here, you were already in place. She decided that our efforts were better served by having me serve as reserve, than to try to develop her own efforts to the effect. It seems she and Lord Deep-Sea are in agreement on the importance of this mission."

"Yes. Lord Deep-Sea had called me here a while ago, to keep an eye on the Hellmaster's activities out here. When he was ruined by..." she paused. "I hate to ask for a favor, Xellos, but it _was_ the Golden Lord, was it not? Not just a spell drawing on Her power?"

"It was. That, dear Child of the Sea, is one thing I will not lie about, nor misdirect." He gave an ironic smile. "It was a reminder that She can still act in this world."

"I envy you the experience of witnessing that - even from here, I could feel the character of the Astral Plane change when She arrived and departed."

Xellos merely nodded. "It was enlightening, I will say that. But, you were saying?"

"When the Hellmaster was ruined," the other mazoku continued, "I noticed an increase in the number of demon summonings in Jarei."

"Not unusual," Xellos said. "With both him and Gaav no longer lending their power to spells, I would not be surprised that human black magic users might take up alternate methods."

"Some of the demons also seemed to be disappearing."

"Again, not unusual. Humans do know how to kill demons, especially here where they tend to run unconstrained in the Desert of Destruction."

"What was unusual is that I started counting whose line each demon came from."

"You have the mind of a merchant, Paina. I see why your cover has been so effective."

"Thank you, Beast-Priest. What I noticed is that those demons who traced their power back to the Hellmaster were far more likely to disappear, rather than those that gained their power from Gaav, or Lord Beastmaster or Lord Deep-Sea or Lord Dynast."

Xellos looked surprised - so much so that the effect extended to his human form, where he started wide-eyed at Master tab Dareiba for a moment before he quickly invented some thing about how he never would have expected the wool trade to extend all the way out to Jarei, in case bystanders caught on. After a couple of moments, he continued carefully, "Even assuming the Hellmaster's demons would be more summoned, as they aren't out on business for any mazoku?"

"Even given that. I was very thorough about this. Moreover, it has to be someone close to the Jarei king."

"And what makes you say that?"

"It's the only place I haven't looked. The human magic users do a pretty fair job of keeping a lid on such activity, so it would either have to be one of the two that head the Temple and the Sorcerers' Guild, or someone with enough influence to hide the fact they knew magic enough to summon and kill demons. I checked the provincial nobles, and they weren't involved - it was someone in the capital."

"But you don't know who?"

"I don't. I could find out, but I would risk my cover, which I am not willing to do until I know who is our target, and what he is planning."

"You are a very cautious creature, Paina. You, as the humans say, play your cards close to your chest. On the other hand, whatever is afoot still continues to go on, despite the fact you are now in the position to monitor the other five suspects."

"I was hoping that whoever made the move against Saillune was also who I was looking for. At the very least, it was convenient to me to have the princess of Saillune poking her nose into Jarei business."

Xellos looked up. "How so?"

"I thought I'd arose the princess's interest into the demon problem. It seems General tab Siraba had already mentioned the increase in activity to her, so I figured a small attack-"

Xellos gave her a slitted-eye look, in both his human form and his natural one. "Nothing serious, I hope."

"Why, Beast-Priest Xellos. I didn't know you cared so much about humans."

"Princess Amelia and Zelgadis Graywords have both been very useful to me in the past. I would rather keep such useful pieces around, rather than having to develop new ones. Both are magic users and both are young, so I had anticipated them lasting quite a while, for humans."

"Never the less, while I could have coped with a single death, I was planning to lose the two lesser demons I sent to them. Luckily, they were driven off and I was able to get a report."

"Which was?"

"Someone else had tried to kill the princess and Zelgadis Graywords that night - they had sent human assassins, not demons."

"Your summoner?"

"Hopefully. It would not serve my interest to have the princess getting distracted by someone else trying to kill her."

"Nor mine. I do think I can heighten her interest even further, if you'll allow me. Or at the very least, that of Mister Zelgadis, who, as you might have noticed, isn't terribly trusting."

"And how do you plan to do that, Beast-Priest Xellos?"

"That, dear Paina, is a secret."


End file.
